Harry Potter and the Zodiac Charms
by PulsarDragon
Summary: What does one quiet night sharing their experiences about the Chamber do to Harry and Ginny's relationship and who is the mysterious exchange student that comes to Hogwarts third year with a strange charm, will start after the feast in Chamber of Secrets and will go up to right after the Final Battle in Deathly Hallows and this is an AU story mild Ron bashing until OotP
1. Late Night Visit

Disclaimer : I do not own anything of the Harry Potter world that honor rests with J.K. Rowling, but original characters are mine please rate and review

Chapter 1: Late Night Visit

Ginny Weasley was laying in the Hospital Wing, trying to come to terms with what had happened down in the Chamber: Harry coming to rescue little old her, killing the Basilisk, destroying Riddle's diary. She sighed and sniffled a bit as she thought, '_If I wasn't so stupid, then Harry wouldn't have had to risk his life and none of the other students wouldn't have gotten hurt_.' Ginny knew that right now the rest of Hogwarts was either enjoying a feast or off in their warm comfortable beds, celebrating their friends' unpetrifying and the House Cup. All of that was fine with her, she just wanted some solitude to think and recover.

All the terrible things Tom had shown her and forced her to do against her will kept running through her head and no matter how much she tried, Ginny couldn't hold back the tears. She hated herself for crying, as she had never been much of crier, and now because of Tom, all her emotional walls had been stripped away, leaving her with nothing to protect against the dark thoughts in her head and the voice of Tom Riddle.

'_Harry Potter will never love someone as weak and powerless as you my dear', Tom had said to her as he emerged from the diary, 'and just to make your anguish even more unbearable, as your life fades away I will kill Harry Potter.'_

'_No please, don't hurt him Tom, he's never done anything to you,' Ginny whimpered out as she began to lose consciousness and just before she did she heard Tom whisper in her ear, 'You're wrong little girl; Harry Potter has done much to me.'_

Ginny now knew what Tom had meant, he had been You-Know-Who all this time and he had been feeding off her soul and misery, trying to come back. As the tears fell freely for the moment, Ginny wished that she had never written in that bloody diary and she could go back to being a little girl. But between what Tom had shown her and the trauma caused by it, she knew her childhood was over and all she wanted was to be held and comforted by someone, to make the nightmares go away.

So, to her surprise, she heard the Hospital Wing's doors opening a little then closing, with soft footsteps heading down the line of beds. "Who's there?" Ginny asked to thin air, quickly wiping her eyes, and shockingly, Harry appeared out of nowhere.

"Sweet Merlin, Harry how did you do that?" Ginny asked

"Sorry if I startled you, Ginny I just wanted to see how you were doing and if you wanted some quiet company. I'm sure Ron has mentioned I have an Invisibility Cloak," Harry said with a soft smile.

"Thank you Harry," Ginny whispered so softly that Harry could barely hear her. "I just keep flashing back to what happened in the Chamber and can't help blaming myself" Ginny whispered with a slight hitch to her voice as though she was fighting back tears.

"Hey, it wasn't your fault," Harry said, "Like Dumbledore said, Voldemort," Ginny shivered at his name," has fooled far older and more experienced wizards and witches. How were you suppose to know Tom Riddle was Voldemort?" Again Ginny shivered. "Look Ginny, if it would help I could tell you about my side of what happened, as I'm pretty sure you weren't paying too much attention in McGonagal's office, and how I was feeling." "Maybe it will help you get past this," Harry said.

"Alright Harry," Ginny said with a very small smile. Harry started telling Ginny everything that had happened that night from his point of view from venturing into the Forbidden Forest all the way to explaining things to Dumbledore and freeing Dobby from the Malfoys, although Harry thought it was sort of odd that he had not mentioned the exact role Ginny had played, but he kept that information to himself to ponder later. By the end of his tale, Ginny had tears in her eyes again.

Ginny was amazed at the depths that Harry would go to protect those he cared about and it gave her a little hope that maybe they could be friends and she wouldn't be so shy and quiet around him anymore. "Harry," Ginny whispered, "Thank you for telling me everything, and thank you for saving me."

"It was nothing Ginny," Harry said, trying to brush it off as if it was not a major thing, "anyone would have done the same." '_Honestly, Harry is so modest that he won't even acknowledge that what he did was a great feat,_' Ginny thought to herself. '_Maybe if I explain what kind of torture he saved me from, Harry wouldn't be so quick to brush off what he did.'_

"Hey Harry," Ginny said making up her mind, "if you don't mind I want to tell you about one thing that I didn't tell anyone else about what Tom did."

"Okay Ginny," Harry said while he was thinking, '_What else could Voldemort have done that she didn't want to mention to anyone else?'_

"Well when I was too far gone into the diary, Tom started to show me terrible things he would do," Ginny whispered. "Sometimes he would show me an animal he had just tortured or maimed, or some first year he bullied, or some poor girl that he…" and here Ginny couldn't say the words. "Anyways, you saved me from having to watch those memories ever again, so again Harry I thank you from the bottom of my heart and hope you realize what you did was amazing," Ginny said with a grateful smile.

'_Wow', _Harry thought, '_I didn't know how evil Riddle was even in school, I mean I knew he was but that is just wrong.' _

With both Harry and Ginny wrapped up in their own thoughts, neither noticed what time it was until a nearby clock chimed causing both to jump in surprise. "Well I should probably be getting back to Gryffindor Tower before anyone notices I'm not in bed," Harry said. "I would imagine Snape or Filch would give me detention until the end of term if they catch me, even if it was to come and comfort you Gin."

As Harry started to get up, Ginny hugged him tightly and Harry, who was shocked at the display of affection, awkwardly returned it. "Um, well yea, I should get going," he said sheepishly and started to head for the doors, but before he left he turned back and said, "If you ever need anyone to talk to about anything, I'll always be willing to listen after all. You are my friend", and he left.

Ginny sighed to herself thinking, '_He considers me his friend and he even called me by a nickname when all I've done is stick my arm in butter dishes and squeaked when he even looks at me. Well no more of that, it's time for Harry Potter to see the real Ginny Weasley,_' and with that she drifted off into sleep, surprisingly not beset by nightmares of the Chamber, but dreams of being Harry's close friend.

Meanwhile in another part of the castle, Dumbledore sat in his office pondering the night's events. The fact that Harry had come face to face with Voldemort for a second time in two years and successfully driven him off was quite a feat. Dumbledore was proud of the way Harry had handled himself tonight, especially when he was protecting the role young Miss Weasley had played in the events. What did worry the old headmaster was how Voldemort had controlled Miss Weasley with the diary, something just seemed off about the whole explanation of a memory taking control of someone.

Dumbledore was almost certain it was something far more sinister in nature, but with the diary destroyed there was no way to check if his theory was correct about the diary possibly being a Horcrux. Time would tell he was sure, but time was something that was in short supply as it was becoming apparent that Voldemort would be returning soon and the storm would break anew.

On a ship near the British coast, a blonde haired girl with orange highlights stood at the railing, watching the stars and thinking to herself, '_What a beautiful night for looking at stars.'_ A small stone with a weird symbol hung from a necklace she wore. It glinted in the moonlight and hinted at mysteries and events to come.


	2. A Train Ride Home

Disclaimer: As stated previously not J.K. Rowling, not my world I just get to play in it with my original characters

Chapter 2: A Train Ride Home

The rest of term went by in a flash since end of the year exams had been cancelled. Harry, Ron and Hermione could be found just like any of the other students outside in the grounds of Hogwarts. So it was on the day term ended that Harry found himself wandering the lake shore by himself; Ron needing to pack at the last minute again and Hermione returning all the books she had borrowed to the library before lunch.

'_Wish I didn't have to go back to the Dursleys,' _Harry thought as he looked out over the lake, the giant squid lazing around in the water nearby and students relaxing before heading home. Harry knew the Dursleys were going to be exceptionally nasty this summer after what happened last summer and he was dreading having to face that.

The only bright spot about the whole situation was Ginny. While she hadn't been hanging out with the Golden Trio much, she had been making a point of saying hello in the halls, or sitting near them at meals. Harry figured that because of the diary, Ginny hadn't made many friends. Upon remembering what he said to her, he had been more than happy to let her join them—even if Ron was becoming a bit surly for having to share Harry's time.

Harry found she had an amazing sense of humor, plenty of sarcasm and wit. The looks of mischief she had shared with Fred and George made Harry think that she was involved in at least of some their more elaborate pranks. Ginny also was incredibly smart. The few times he had seen her studying to catch up with her classmates, the notes she had been taking were more in depth than even some of Hermione's, especially in Charms

'_Ginny really is a strong she can keep moving forward and not blame herself for what happened in the Chamber. Maybe my talk with her last week did help her,' _Harry thought. '_If she can move on, maybe I should take example from her next year and really focus on my studies and not blaming myself for things, maybe—' _

Harry, lost in his musings, didn't see that hidden under a willow tree near the shore was the girl he was thinking of.

As she silently watched the boy of her dreams walking around the lake, Ginny sighed and thought, '_At least I'm not making a fool of myself in front of him anymore, and he is starting to notice me a lot more—even if that prat of a brother of mine doesn't like me hanging around. Maybe they will let me sit with them on the train. Well, Harry will definitely allow it but Ron is going to complain.'_

Breaking her out of her thoughts, Ginny heard someone walking towards her and she tensed up, until she saw it was one of only two friends she had in her year.

"Hi Luna," Ginny said brightly, "Got everything packed for the trip home?"

"Hello Ginny," the blonde Ravenclaw said wistfully, "and yes I did pack everything, after finding all the things people hid."

"I cannot believe people would be that mean to you," Ginny huffed.

"Oh it is all in good fun, I kind of enjoy it. Gives me a chance to wander the castle and treat it like a scavenger hunt," Luna said with a dreamy smile. "So, thinking of Harry again or about the Chamber?"

That was one thing Ginny loved about Luna, she always cut straight to point, even if it made people uncomfortable. She knew that Luna also only acted strange because she wanted to and Luna thought people only should be friends with someone if they could accept them for what they were. That was one reason Ginny had told Luna about the Chamber after Harry's visit, and Luna had been very supportive.

"Harry, of course," Ginny laughed, "he really is trying to be more of a friend to me and it is really making me fancy him even more, even if the prat doesn't like to share."

"As long you're starting to like him for the right reasons, and not for his fame or the idol everyone expects him to be," Luna said matter of factly

"After the Chamber, I think any illusions I had about Harry and the cookie cutter hero I thought he was have been dispelled," Ginny said. "Not saying he isn't a hero, but he is just a twelve year old wizard and has flaws like the rest of us."

"How very grown up of you to say Ginny," Luna said smiling, "I think you should probably sit with him on the train ride home, even if it upsets Ron."

"I should, shouldn't I?" Ginny said giggling, "Ron is not going to like that at all."

"What about Hermione, do you think she cares?" Luna said with a tilt to her head.

"Not at all. She told me that she is starting to have feelings for Ron, although what she sees in the overbearing prat, I have no clue,"

Ginny said laughing as she stood up to head inside. "Thanks, Luna I needed that pep talk."

"You're welcome Ginny," Luna said brightly ", maybe I'll pop in and say hi on the train, introduce myself to Harry and Hermione. Unless I run into a nest of Nargles, then I might forget." "Well I'm going to sit here and enjoy the sun and the wind faeries," Luna said laying down and closing her eyes.

As she walked back inside, Ginny was more determined than ever to spend time with Harry on the train, so walking into the Great Hall, she saw the Trio sitting down for lunch, and she hurried over and sat next to Harry.

"Hi Harry, Ron, Hermione," Ginny said brightly

"Hey Ginny, ready to head back home?", Harry asked while Hermione acknowledged her presence with a wave while not looking up from the book on her lap and Ron just ignored her as he began shoving as much food into his mouth as possible.

"Oh yea, can't wait to have some of Mom's cooking, I mean Hogwarts food is good and all but nothing beats Mom's," Ginny rushed out. "Oh, would it be okay for me to sit on the train with you guys?"

"Sure Ginny," Harry said smiling "should be fun, us four sharing a compartment." Ron made a sound of annoyance and both Ginny and Hermione threw him a withering look that he missed as he went back to eating his steak and kidney pie.

"Thanks guys," Ginny said happily and she helped herself to a sandwich nearby and started eating.

"So Hermione, what could you possibly be reading now?" Harry asked curiously, "it can't be anything from the library."

"It's not, just something I ordered awhile back but didn't get a chance to read because of certain events," Hermione said looking like she was walking on eggshells when indirectly mentioning her petrification around Ginny.

"It's okay, Hermione you don't need to tip-toe around the issue," Ginny said. "Harry helped me get through it and accept that it wasn't my fault. Any who what are you reading?"

Hermione looked a little surprised at Ginny saying that she was okay about talking about the Chamber and threw Harry a quick glance, who had an ever so slight blush. '_Well that's interesting, is Harry just blushing from being in the center of attention or is it something else?'_

Hermione hefted the book onto the table to show the title; **The Legend of the Zodiac by Alexander Hasting**

"Well, it's a book on something called Zodiac charms, but so far the author hasn't really given a lot of information, just that they are powerful objects, with strange abilities based off the ancient Roman Zodiac constellations. This got me really curious because I've read through most of this book and there is almost no concrete evidence that they even exist, but the author is adamant that he encountered a gem with the Aries crest on it and he claims the person possessing it could do amazing feats," Hermione rushed out in an excited tone.

"Where did you even see a mention of this in any of our school work this year, Hermione?" Harry asked bewildered with Ginny nodding in agreement.

"Oh just in something I was cross-referencing for Transfiguration and—" Hermione began to explain, but Ron cut her off.

"Oh who cares Hermione, it sounds like they don't exist and the author is just trying to make some gold off some old folk story," Ron grumbled.

"Well I suppose Mr. Hasting could be making it up," Hermione conceded. "But I feel like he is telling the truth or something close to it."

"So if these things do exist, do you think Dumbledore or Professor McGonagall know about them?" Harry asked.

Surprisingly, it was Ginny who answered, "Well I would imagine Dumbledore probably knows the legend, I doubt McGonagall knows just because these sound like some sort of alchemy, and she has never studied that, whileDumbledore has."

Hermione nodded, then looked at the time and gasped literally grabbed Ron out of his seat. "Come on guys, we are going to be late for the good carriages," Hermione yelled and rushed out, dragging Ron behind her, while he protested he hadn't finished eating.

"Well, we should probably follow them," Harry said offering his hand to help Ginny up, who smiled brightly at him.

"A Knut says that when we find them they are bickering over either Hermione being overzealous in her research or Ron being too concerned about food and not a good story," Ginny said laughing.

"You're on, I think they will be bickering over getting a carriage to the train early and that it doesn't matter," Harry said as they walked out the Entrance Hall towards the carriage.

Laughing and talking, Harry and Ginny made their way down the path to the gates, when suddenly someone bumped into them.

"Sorry, didn't see where I was going," A blonde haired girl with blue eyes said, "Kind in a hurry to get to the carriages."

"It's alright," Harry said and Ginny smiled, "wait aren't you Daphne Greengrass?"

"Yeah, that's me the second year Slytherin Ice Queen," Daphne said sort of bitterly.

"You don't sound too happy about that name," Ginny said curiously.

"Well how would you like it that just because of the idiots in my house, I take flak I don't deserve and to deal with I have to act all high and mighty and be indifferent to everything," Daphne seethed.

"Sorry, Daphne," Harry said sheepishly, "you know it would be nice to have a friend in Slytherin and you could be yourself around us right Gin?"

"Right," Ginny said brightly, "we can be your friends Daphne, but don't you hang out with Tracy Davis and Blaise Zabini?"

"Yes, I do but I can only be myself around Tracy, Blaise is too close to Draco and his cronies," Daphne huffed then she looked down at her watch. "Oh Merlin, must be off I'll see you guys next term, maybe even write." As she sped off Harry and Ginny just looked at each other.

"She's not what I expected," Harry said, numb struck, "much more hyperactive and dramatic."

"She seems pretty cool," Ginny said laughing. "Come on Harry, we really should get going." And taking him by the hand, Ginny lead Harry to the carriages, where they found Ron and Hermione arguing over how much she studied.

"Darn it," Harry said sadly and handed Ginny a Knut who happily pocketed it. "I'll win the next bet, just you watch."

"Whatever you say Harry," Ginny said smiling as she interrupted the argument and Hermione moved everyone into one of the carriages, and as they watched the castle shrink in the distance, Harry couldn't help but wonder

'_I wonder what next year is gonna bring and what having a secret friend in Slytherin will be like.'_

As Harry sat there watching the castle, Ginny was watching him while Ron and Hermione continued to bicker in the background. It just seemed like to her that weird things always happened around Harry and the encounter with Daphne was an example of that.

The carriage finally got to Hogsmeade Station and as other carriages arrived, depositing students, the group moved to claim one of the rear compartments.

"Alright Ginny go run off and find some of your friends," Ron said gruffly.

"Ronald Weasley, you be nice to your sister," Hermione yelled at him "She asked if she could sit with us and we said yes so get over it."

"Harry, back me up here," Ron said looking for an ally in this but Ginny watched amused as Harry chuckled.

"Sorry mate, but she asked me and I think it's a great idea for her to sit with us."

"Fine, fine I can see I'm not going to win this, just don't annoy me Ginny," Ron huffed and crossed his arms.

"Alright Ron, I'll just sit next to Harry" Ginny said happily and promptly sat in the seat next to Harry causing him to chuckle again.

She and Harry started chattering about nothing in particular, while Ron pulled out a Qudditch magazine and Hermione opened up the book from earlier and went back to reading as the train moved out of the station. Halfway through the ride home, Fred and George stopped by and proceeded to start up a few games of Exploding Snap with Harry, Ginny, and Ron.

"Oh Ginny I forgot to ask what were you going to say about Percy awhile back," Harry asked as Fred shuffled the cards again and started to deal out a new hand.

"Well I walked in on him in an empty classroom, annnnd Percy has a girlfriend," Ginny said giggling as both Fred and George exchanged quick looks of joy at the new ammunition to use against their favorite target.

"Who is it?" Fred asked innocently or was it George

"It's that Ravenclaw prefect, Penelope Clearwater. Oh please say you won't take the mickey out of him for it," Ginny pleaded but Harry noticed her eyes were telling her brothers an entirely different message.

"Wouldn't dream of it," George said smirking ever so slightly.

"As my esteemed brother stated, wouldn't dream of it," Fred said mirroring his partner in crime and dealing out the cards again.

As the train ride continued, other Gryffindors stoped by saying hi and wishing everyone a good summer and Ginny felt totally at ease with present company, especially as Harry was almost holding her hand subconsciously. She was hoping that maybe if she kept being such good friends with him this next year, maybe those subconscious feelings would become conscious she would just need to be patient and herself around him.

Sooner than she would have liked though, the train began to slow down in King Cross and everyone started to get up and leave the compartment.

"Hey Ginny, do you think you could write me over the summer, I know Ron is atrocious when it comes to writing and it would be nice to have regular correspondence," Harry said smiling, but Ginny couldn't help but notice the ever so slight blush.

"Of course I'll write you Harry!" Ginny said smiling while her stomach was doing somersaults of joy.

"Thanks Gin," Harry said as they moved out of the compartment and bumped into Luna as they grabbed their luggage.

"Harry this is Luna Lovegood, my best friend, Luna, Harry Potter," Ginny said happily.

"Hello Harry Potter," Luna said dreamily, "Hope you have a good summer and watch out for Anklebiters." "You too Ginny, and you're always welcome to come hunt Plimplies with me," and she waltzed off into the crowd.

"Wow she's something else, very unique," Harry said looking a little shocked.

"She grows on you trust me," Ginny said and they moved off to greet the rest of the Weasleys, where Mrs. Weasley gave Harry and her daughter extra hard hugs, clearly remembering the events of the past year still.

"Oh Harry dear, I don't see your relatives around, aren't they concerned that you alright," Mrs. Weasley said

"I doubt it Mrs. Weasley, they are probably more disappoint that I didn't die all those times I could," Harry half joked.

"Well I never in all my years," Mrs. Weasley started saying but Harry just shrugged

"That's the way they are"

"Well don't' worry Harry, we will try and get you out of that house as quick as we can right Mum, " Ginny said.

"of course, now must be off, Harry we will see you in the summer," Mrs. Weasley said bustling out but as she passed Ginny ran up and gave Harry a big hug that she couldn't help but notice Harry wasn't nearly as awkward about returning.

"Have a nice summer Harry, and I promise I'll write you as often as I can."

"Thanks Gin," Harry said and as he spotted the Durselys standing near the exit, looking annoyed and a little frightened by all the wizards and witches around. He couldn't help but think '_Summer is going to be very interesting I feel."_

At Hogwarts

Dumbledore was sitting in his office, waiting for two very peculiar guests when he heard a knock at his door.

"Come in," Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eye as a steel blue eyed man with a gray goatee and short hair walked in with a blonde girl with orange highlights.

"So what was it you wanted to discuss," Dumbledore asked.

"Well my young charge was hoping to join the third years at the start of next term and I think you might be interested as hiring me as a professor for a new class on dueling and fighting techniques the world is becoming a bit more dangerous," the steel eyed man said.

"So you are interested in teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts?" Dumbledore questioned.

"No," the steel eyed man said simply. "This would be a new class to compliment Defense, you will still have to find a Defense teacher for next term."

"Fair enough, fair enough," Dumbledore said with a chuckle.

"We are agreed then," the man asked.

"I agree to both," Dumbledore said happily, "Hogwarts is always happy to have new students. She will just need to be sorted with the first years, but will take classes with the third year. We will just need to iron out the details of your contract in a bit—"

That's when Dumbledore noticed the necklace the girl wore and he thought '_Impossible, those aren't suppose to exist'_

"My dear wherever did you get that?" Dumbledore asked.

"Here, there and everywhere professor," the girl smiled as the light caught her necklace and the stone glinted.


	3. Grim Summer

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter, I do not and will never own it sadly

Author's notes: WARNING this chapter borrows copious amounts of Dursley from Aunt Marge's Big Mistake in Prisoner of Azkaban, as it fits the story so nicely and why change something done so perfect. (Perfectly?)

Rate and Review please!

Chapter 3: Grim Summer

Harry really hated being right sometimes. So far this summer was turning out to be just as bad as, or even worse than last summer. Onceas they got home from King Cross, Uncle Vernon had locked all of Harry's school things in the cupboard under the stairs, and then sent him up to his room without dinner. A little later, Aunt Petunia pusheda small meal through the cat flap on his door and a list of chores he was to do every day or he wouldn't get any meals.

One bright spot, though, was Harry had been able to persuade his uncle that if he let Hedwig out, then she wouldn't make such a racket from being locked up. The only caveat being he couldn't use her to send letters out to as Uncle Vernon had said, his little freak friends. When Harry asked if he could at least also get some of his summer work out of the cupboard, his uncle had laughed cruelly and then sent him outside to paint the fence.

This was a problem, as the professors at Hogwarts had assigned a lot of summer homework, and Harry wouldn't put it past Professor Snape to give him detention on the first day back for not having his essay done. So, Harry had seized an opportunity to sneak down, pick the lock on the cupboard, and recover his schoolbooks and supplies while the Dursleys had been outside admiring Vernon's new car.

That's how he found himself now, studying magic by torchlight in the dead of night, so as to avoid angering his relatives. Harry had kept his promise to himself after seeing Ginny studying, and had been revising hard for classes. He was quite proud of how his Transfiguration and Charms essays had turned out, and he was sure that he would get high marks for them.

Harry was currently working on his History of Magic essay on witch-burnings in the 1400's. Even with his new found determination to do well, he was still finding the essay boring and hard to write. Harry decided he would just get to it another time and carefully put everything away under the loose floorboard under his bed. Harry looked up at the clock and was surprised to see he turned thirteen an hour ago and hadn't realized it.

Harry walked over to the open window, and staring out into the starry darkness, thought over things his friends had said in their last letters. Harry had, of course, not held to his promise to Uncle Vernon about sending letters. He had been in regular correspondence with his friends, even a few letters from Daphne had come, all encoded to throw off suspicion of who she was writing.

Harry had to smile at Daphne's antics, and found she was actually a very dramatic and hyperactive person. Her letters would be pages long, go off on interesting tangents, then wrap up with the key to the next encoded letter. Harry had noticed that often her letters would hold small hints that maybe Harry should be a bit more ambitious, and think things through before taking a course of action. Harry was seriously considering her advice, as it would probably help him in school and life in general.

Harry had also found himself eagerly awaiting letters from Ginny for reasons he couldn't explain. Her letters were a bit like Daphne's, being pages long, but they were filled with the goings on at the Burrow, such as the latest thing the twins were working on or Mrs. Weasley trying to teach her household things when all Ginny wanted to do was go outside and fly. Harry had been surprised that Ginny even knew how to fly, but she had explained to him and made him swear not to tell anyone that she had been sneaking out since the age of 5 to the broom shed at the Burrow and taking her brothers' brooms out and practicing. In her last letter, Ginny had mentioned that Ron had been a bit standoffish recently with her and had essentially told her to leave the Trio alone when school started.

Harry wasn't sure what to do about Ron, but Ginny had informed him that Mr. Weasley had won the Daily Prophet Galleon Draw. The family had decided to travel to Egypt to see their oldest son Bill and wouldn't be back in Britain until the week before school started.Harry was hoping maybe the trip would knock some sense into Ron before school.

That's when Harry noticed a dark shape moving towards Privet Drive at a rapid speed, and while he debated whether to close the window, the shape became a couple of owls with Hedwig in the lead. One by one, they swooped through the window landing in a neat line on his bed, and stuck their legs out at the same time except an old gray owl which just collapsed.

Harry quickly relieved Errol of the heavy package and set him near the water bowl, which he hooted a weak thanks to. Harry quickly took the letters and packages from the owls, which all left, and Harry sat down to go through what he had gotten. The package Errol had brought contained a newspaper clipping of the Weasleys in Egypt, a Sneakoscope that Ron had gotten for his birthday and a card from Ron describing Egypt. Harry was a bit disappointed that Ginny hadn't included anything, but as he moved on to the package Hedwig had brought he noticed very familiar handwriting and he quickly opened it.

Inside Harry found a small jade green scarab pendant and a short letter from Ginny, which he quickly opened.

_Dear Harry,_

_Hope you have a happy birthday, I'm sending this with Hedwig because I think adding anything else to Errol's load would probably kill the bird somewhere over the continent. Anyways, we were going through a bazaar in wizarding Cairo and I just had to get it because um, well uh it reminded me of your eyes and thought you would like it. If you bring that up next time we see each other, I will Bat-Bogey you into next week when school starts and you can count on that! Bill has been great showing us the sights, Percy is being his super obnoxious self, especially since he got Head Boy, Merlin preserve us, the twins have been driving Mum crazy with their antics as usual and Ron is well, being Ron. Well gotta go Bill said he was taking us to see the inside of the sphinx statue, can't wait to get your next letter!_

_Your friend,_

_ Ginny_

Harry just had to smile at the letter. Ginny always wrote her letters this way, as if she was writing down whatever came into her mind. Still smiling and putting the pendant on his desk for now, he turned to a non-descript envelope that he knew probably came from Daphne. When he opened it, his suspicions were confirmed when he saw the coded letter. Harry quickly decoded the letter with the key she had left in her last letter, and he just had to laugh quietly as she had simply wished him a happy birthday and sent a voucher to Flourish and Blotts for a free book.

Harry quickly went through the rest of his gifts; Hermione's being his second favorite with the Broomstick Care Kit, Hagrid's **Monster Book of Monsters** was entertaining, if not a bit painful. That left his Hogwarts letter to open.

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_Please note that the term begins on September the first. The Hogwarts Express will leave King's Cross at exactly eleven o'clock from platform nine and three quarters. Third year students are permitted to visit the village of Hogsmeade with permission from their parents or guardians, please have the enclosed signed by them and these will be collected on the first day of classes._

_A list of your books for next term is enclosed._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Professor McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress_

Harry was a little surprised to see a book on dueling in the curriculum now, because Harry was sure that a dueling class wasn't available before. Seeing the Hogsmeade form Harry sighed, as he knew it would be hard to get Uncle Vernon or Aunt Petunia to sign the form. It would be great to visit the all wizarding village with his friends; he was going to have to trick his relatives into signing it in the morning. Looking at the clock and seeing it read two o'clock in the morning, Harry decided to get some sleep and worry about the issue at breakfast.

Azkaban Prison

Sirius Black was huddled in his cell, looking at the picture from last week's Prophet he had gotten ofFudge. Seeing the little rat that had caused his life to become a living hell had given Sirius a reason to live again namely revenge. He had been slowly building his strength over the last week and planning his escape. A fire had been lit in Sirius' heart and tonight was a chance for him to make history and a shadow of his old smile crossed his face at the thought.

'_If only James was around to see history in the making, I'll make sure that little rat pays and James and Lily can rest in peace,' _Sirius thought as he changed into his Animagus form. He was thankful that the dementors could not really distinguish dog thoughts and feelings from human and that they didn't feed him much so he could slip through the bars.

Avoiding any Aurors that might be on duty and slipping past the dementors, Sirius headed for the opening in the walls that the guards disposed of the bodies of dead inmates. Finding the hole unguarded, Sirius quickly moved through it and leapt into the ocean below. A few hours later he had finally made it to shore, but was completely exhausted so he decided to lay down for a bit and rest. But before he could get comfortable, he smelled someone nearby and with his senses on alert, he inched closer to see a man with a gray goatee and short hair looking out in the direction of Azkaban. The man suddenly turned his head sharply to look at Sirius, and Sirius couldn't help but freeze when blue eyes that looked like they were made of steel snapped onto him.

The man then smiled ever so slightly, and said, "Mr. Black I take it. Don't ask how I know although your eyes are far more intelligent than any dog I've seen, you made my task much easier by escaping yourself," the man said with a chuckle at Sirius' dumbfounded look. "I believe I have something of yours that you would like back, until we meet again Mr. Black." The man set something long and thin on the ground then disappeared.

Sirius moved towards what the man had left behind and he was surprised to see his original wand, which the last time he had seen it was when it had been arrested. He quickly changed back to a human, grabbed his wand, and considered what he should do now. He made a split decision that he would like to see Harry before he started to track down Wormtail and perhaps he would use Number 12 as safe-ish place to stay. Sirius now had an extra mystery to figure out, '_who was that man, why was he going to help me escape and how did he have my wand?'_

On the island, a guard was walking by checking names off a list of inmates, until he reached Black's cell and saw it was empty. The alarm was raised, the dementors riled, but no sign of Black could be found. Fudge immediately let the Muggle Prime Minister know that there was an escaped murderer in the world, a murderer who was almost as bad as You-Know-Who.

Number 4 Privet Drive

The next morning, Harry, completely unaware of the momentous events that had occurred last night, made his way down to breakfast to find the Dursleys already sitting around the kitchen table, watching a news report on the tellie.

"…Black is armed and extremely dangerous. It is important that citizens be on the lookout for him and to call the hotline at the bottom of the screen," the reporter said. "And now back to Will on sports."

"Wait a minute, they didn't say where that madman escaped from he could be right down the street for all we know," Vernon thundered with a slight panicked look. Aunt Petunia kept peeking out of the curtains and Harry knew she would love to be the one to catch Black. Harry buttered himself a piece of toast and sat down across from his baby whale sized cousin, who hadn't been out of the kitchen ever since the Dursleys bought a television for the counter.

"People should realize putting people like that to death is the only way to deal with them," Vernon grumbled.

"Too true dear," Petunia said agreeing with her husband and peeking out the curtains again.

"Well I best be off Petunia, Marge's train should be coming in soon," Vernon added as he finished his tea, checked his watch.

"Wait, Aunt Marge is visiting," Harry blanched as his thoughts were wrenched away from the letters and gifts he had received.

"Yes she is, and we need to get a few things straight boy," Vernon threatened. Dudley turned away from the television to watch his father push Harry around, his favorite form of entertainment. "First off, you'll keep a civil tongue around Marge."

"I will if she does," Harry quipped which Vernon ignored.

"Secondly, you are not to mention your freakishness as Marge doesn't know about your abnormality. And no funny business, boy." Vernon hissed out at his nephew.

"I'll behave if she behaves," Harry said while he noticed Vernon had gained a slight tick in his temple.

"And third, we have informed Marge you go to Saint Brutus' Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys," Vernon said nastily.

"What?!" Harry yelled.

"And you'll be sticking to that story boy, or you won't have food for the rest of the summer," Vernon said and started to move out into the hallway and Dudley turned back to the television since his dad was done threatening Harry.

Harry was numb struck for a second before he realized that Uncle Vernon had handed him the perfect opportunity to get his Hogsmeade form signed. Harry hurried after his uncle and caught him as he was putting his jacket on.

"I'm not taking you boy," Vernon snarled.

"Like I would want to go," Harry said. "I was wondering Uncle Vernon, if you could sign something for me. You see third year Hogwa—students at my school are allowed to visit the village nearby and I need my guardians' permission."

"And why would I want to do this," Vernon sneered nastily.

"Well it might be rather hard to remember everything you told me, like going to Saint Junius—"

"Saint Brutus'," Vernon corrected.

"Yeah that I might accidentally let something slip," Harry said.

"Then you'll get the beating off your life freak," Vernon yelled.

"Hitting me isn't going to make Aunt Marge forget what I could say or do uncle," Harry said.

Harry could see Vernon thinking it over carefully, while Vernon despised Harry being happy, he couldn't risk Marge finding out about the boys abnormality. Harry could see the answer forming even before his uncle said it, and he had the perfect compromise.

"Fine, I'll monitor your behavior closely while Marge is here and if you are able to toe the line, I'll sign your ruddy form," Vernon said angrily as he turned away to open the door.

"That sounds good, but maybe you could sign it now because I have it on me and it would easier for me to toe the line if the form is already signed," Harry said serenely as he pulled the form out of his pocket.

"Alright boy, I'll sign the ruddy thing now," Vernon yelled and tore it from Harry's hands. Vernon signed it with a pen in his jacket pocket and said, "But if you even so much as stray from the deal, I'll tear this nonsense up and you'll be locked in the cupboard for the rest of summer," Vernon said as he thrust the form back into Harry's hands, opened the door then slammed it so hard several panes of glass actually cracked.

Harry walked upstairs, with a smile on his face at how well that went. Harry quickly started hiding all hints of being a wizard in his room, which sadly included hiding his friends' letters and presents under the loose floorboard. Harry also sent Hedwig off to Hagrid, because he knew he could trust the large man to look after her for a while, but Harry also showing a bit of cunning had sent the Hogsmeade form off with her to prevent Uncle Vernon from carrying through on his threat.

In what felt like no time at all, Aunt Petunia was screaming up the stairs for Harry to make himself presentable and to come down to greet Marge. As Harry made his way downstairs, he could hear a car pulling into the driveway and he sighed. '_This next week is going to be hard,' _Harry thought.

"Get the door," Aunt Petunia snapped at Harry, who with a heavy heart opened it to reveal an extremely heavy set woman with a slight mustache and a pit bull under her arm. Marge shoved Harry aside without looking at him and dropped her suitcase at his feet.

"Petunia," Aunt Marge yelled out boisterously and she bumped her jaw to Petunia's cheek. "Where is my Dudders," Marge called out, "where is my neffy-poo." Dudley then waddled his way into the hallway and allowed himself to be kissed by his aunt, which Harry knew he would be well rewarded for and sure enough Dudley had a fresh twenty pound note in his hand. Harry grabbed Marge's suitcase and discreetly made his way upstairs and tried to take as long as possible to unpack Aunt Marge's suitcase into the guest bedroom. He could only put off the inevitable for so long and had to head back downstairs where he found the Dursleys' sitting around the kitchen table, having tea.

"So you're still here are you boy," Marge rudely said.

"Well yea," Harry said deadpan.

"Don't you dare take that ungrateful, arrogant tone with me, you're damn lucky my brother and his wife took you in," Marge said loudly. "He would be straight off to an orphanage if he had been dumped on my doorstep," she said to Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia. "Where is it you are sending this little freak Vernon?"

"St. Brutus', it's a first rate facility for hopeless delinquents," Vernon prompted easily.

"They use the cane at St. Brutus' boy?" Marge asked Harry with a cruel look in her eye.

"Oh yea, I've been beaten loads of times," Harry said with Uncle Vernon nodding ever so slightly behind Marge.

"I don't like the causal way you are saying that boy, Vernon I'd write and say you approve extreme methods in this boy's case," Marge said with a matter of fact air about her. Perhaps sensing that Harry was going to forget their deal, Uncle Vernon quickly changed the subject.

"How about that escaped prisoner on the news Marge," Vernon said.

In Harry's opinion the next few days were probably among the worst he had ever had, the only thought that stopped Harry from exploding at Marge was he wanted to prove himself the better person. Not that Marge was making it easy for Harry, she loved to have him under her eye at all times and compare him to Dudley.

The days seemed to follow a pattern, breakfast would be complain about the world in general or Harry, which ever Marge fancied to talk about. The time between breakfast and lunch would mainly consist of Marge holding court in the living room, which Harry avoided as if there was an escaped lion living there hungry for a meal. Lunch would consist of Marge comparing Harry and Dudley, and how Dudley was a perfect example of a man, and Harry should be drowned like a reedy dog. The rest of the day until dinner would be spent by Marge buying Dudley expensive gifts or taking him somewhere, and throwing Harry looks that screamed at him to just dare say anything.

Dinner was a whole separate ordeal as Marge loved to use the time to belittle and demean not just Harry, but also his parents. On the third day of her visit, Marge had slandered Lily Potter and the wine glass she had been holding had shattered. Harry had quickly excused himself lest he blow anything else up from his anger, while Marge just kept saying it was because she had gripped it too hard.

Thankfully, tonight was the last night that Aunt Marge would be with them, and Harry was counting the minutes until she was gone. Aunt Petunia had made it into an extravagant dinner, and Uncle Vernon had uncorked several bottles of wine. They were able to get through most of the meal without incident, with Uncle Vernon boring them all into a slight stupor with talk about his work at Grunnings. Vernon then popped open a bottle of brandy to go with the pie Petunia had made for dessert.

"Can I tempt you, Marge" Vernon said offering the brandy.

"Of course Vernon, just a bit, bit more, that's the ticket," a very drunk Marge said. "Excellent meal, Petunia usually it's just a quick fry-up with all my dogs."

Marge then burped, "Excuse me. But I do like a proper size boy, you'll be just like your father Dudders," Marge said. "Now this one—"she said towards Harry, where he quickly knew this wasn't going to end well, "will never amount to anything, runty mean air about him. I had Colonel Fubster drown one like him just a bit back; it all comes down to blood I suppose."

"Bad blood will out, nothing against you Petunia, but your sister was a bad egg through and through and she goes with that good for nothing Potter," Marge said arrogantly

Harry felt his gut clench in anger, but he tried to tune Marge out with something he had read earlier in the book from his Broomstick Care Kit, but he couldn't remember it clearly now.

"You never did say what that lazy bastard did?" Marge questioned the Dursleys.

Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia quickly shared a glance that Marge missed; Dudley looked a bit white as he gaped at his parents.

"He didn't work," Vernon answered with a look towards Harry. "He was unemployed."

"Just as I thought," Marge said nastily, "Well mix that no-account, lazy scrounger and your sister's penchant for being a bad seed and the results are right in front of us."

"Stop talking about my parents that way," Harry exploded out, causing the table to become very quiet. "My parents were ten times the person you are, Aunt Marge and I can only hope to be even half the person either was."

"Why you insolent little brat, how dare you speak to me in that way, I ought to beat you myself for your arrogance," Marge screamed at him. "Your parents deserved to die in that car crash, they were dragging down a great family, I only wished you had joined them so we could all be in peace and not deal with you your attitude."

Marge looked as if she was going to say something else as she swelled up to speak, but then she kept swelling, slowly growing larger. Harry, in a small corner of his mind was aware he had put an Engorgement Charm on her, but he was so angry that he didn't care.

"MARGE!" yelled Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia together as Aunt Marge began to leave her seat and started to float towards the ceiling, looking like a large human shaped balloon. Ripper started barking madly and Uncle Vernon grabbed one of her legs to try and pull her down again. Ripper leapt forward and thinking his master was being attacked, sank his sharp canines into Uncle Vernon's leg.

Harry used the cover of the chaos to slip through to the hallway and quickly picked the lock on the cupboard under the stairs. Yanking his trunk out, Harry ran upstairs to grab his school supplies and presents and cards from his friends and when he got back downstairs, threw them into his trunk. As he was closing the lid, Uncle Vernon burst into the hallway, Ripper still on his leg.

"COME BACK RIGHT NOW AND PUT HER RIGHT YOU FREAK," Vernon screamed at Harry. Harry quickly whipped his wand up to be right in Vernon's face.

"No she deserved what she got," Harry said with cold rage dripping off every word. "Stay away Uncle Vernon, I've had enough of this place, and I'm leaving."

As Harry moved out of the door, his uncle roared out that he was no longer welcome at the Dursleys' and unbeknownst to either of them, the protections around the house shattered. Harry, with Hedwig's cage under his arm, walked down several roads until he sat down on the bus bench on Magnolia Crescent.

That was when the reality of what had just happened crashed down on him. '_I just left the Dursleys and I just performed uncontrolled, underage magic. I am in so much trouble with the Ministry. So much for the Decree for the Restriction of Underage Wizardry, I'm probably going to be expelled now and I'll never see my friends again." _At that depressing thought Harry started looking around, expecting Ministry officials to pop out of the shadows from every which way.

Straining his senses, Harry could have sworn he heard what sounded like paws hitting gravel nearby, and then footsteps started coming closer. Harry gripped his wand but didn't pull it out of his pocket as he didn't know if it was some Muggle that was out walking their dog at night.

Out of the shadows walked a well-dressed man, although Harry didn't see a dog anywhere so maybe he had just imagined that. The man then sat down to Harry on the bench. Harry noticed that he looked to be in his mid-30s and his black hair and goatee were neatly trimmed. What struck Harry most was the man's eyes looked sort of haunted, almost dead.

"You look a little lost son," the man said with a slight smile, "It's rather dangerous to be out on your own at this time of night."

"Um excuse me, but who are you?" Harry asked confusion evident on his face, while he still kept his hand on his wand. Harry also thought it might be a good idea not to mention he had just run away from his relatives.

"Just call me Mr. Padfoot," the man said with a laugh that sounded like a bark. "It's what my friends called me at school and I've always enjoyed the name.

"Okay Mr. Padfoot," Harry said, "I don't think I've seen you before in the neighborhood."

"I would imagine not, I'm actually traveling north and was staying at a friend's house and decided to have a walk," Mr. Padfoot said. Harry thought that explanation sounded a bit off for some reason but seeing no hole in the man's story he decided to let it go.

"Waiting for the bus son," Mr. Padfoot asked Harry.

"No I thought I'd sit down for a little bit and think about where I'm going," Harry said a little sheepishly. "Although I realized I uh don't have money for the bus."

Mr. Padfoot started to laugh again and Harry had to admit it was kind of funny that he had been so impulsive.

"Well son," Mr. Padfoot said with tears in his eyes from laughing a little bit too hard, "I've heard a rumor that a bus will appear if you wave a stick that is free of charge. Probably just some local folk story, but it's amazing what people will believe."

Harry just looked at the man dumb founded, that was such a random thing to say to a complete stranger, and yet Harry felt that Mr. Padfoot wasn't having him on, at least about the magic bus. In fact, Harry thought he had Mr. Weasley mention that for wizards who preferred to keep their feet on the ground and didn't want to apparate or Portkey, there was an easy form of transportation.

"It was a pleasure speaking to you Harry," Mr. Padfoot said standing up and moving away from him.

"Wait, I didn't even tell you my name, how do you know who I am?" Harry yelled at his retreating back.

Mr. Padfoot turned around and smiling said, "One it's on your trunk and two you look exactly like your father, except for the eyes." Mr. Padfoot then kept walking away while thinking, '_There that should leave him with plenty to wonder about, maybe I'll see him again at Hogwarts.' _ He could hear Harry calling after him to stop and explain how he knew his father, but Sirius just kept walking away, then Apparated away.

Harry was shocked when he saw the man just disappear right in front of him. He had been a wizard, so maybe his advice about the magic bus was true. So feeling a little foolish, Harry stuck his wand out, when there was a loud bang and a purple double-decker bus came screeching out of the night. Harry saw the words _The_ _Knight Bus _on the sides and was struck speechless that Mr. Padfoot hadn't tricked him.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. My name is Stan Shunpike and I'll be your conductor for this evening," a scrawny man with bad acne said as he hopped off the bus.

"Whatcha doin jus standin there," Stan said dropping his professionalism and speaking with a heavy accent.

"Sorry was just a little surprised," Harrys aid as he went to get his trunk.

"No, no I'll get it, jus get on boar," Stan said moving to put Harry's trunk on the bus. Harry didn't need any prompting and hopped onto the bus to see no seats, but several beds on rollers instead. One bed as occupied by a scruffy wizard, but other than that no one was on board.

"Alrigh, where bouts you headin," Stan said as he got back on board.

"Diagon Alley, in London," Harry said thinking that he needed money if he was going to be on the run.

"Eleven Sickles then," Stan said and Harry handed over the money and sat down on one of the beds.

"Take er away, Ern" Stan said to the driver.

"Yea take her away Ern, better hold it's going to be bumpy ride," a shrunker head near the driver said with a mad cackle. With another loud BANG, the bus was off screaming through Muggle traffic, Harry was forced back onto his bed from how fast the bus was going.

"How do the Muggles not see this," Harry asked.

"Don' listen properly, don' see nuthin either," Stan said while unfurling his Daily Prophet and Harry saw the picture of the escaped convict from earlier in the week.

"That man was on the Muggle news, why is he in ours," Harry questioned Stan.

"Sirius Black? Of course he was, dontcha know what he did," Stan said with an incredulous look. "You oughta read the papers more," Stan said as he hand Harry the page with the article on Black.

**Black Still on the Loose**

Sirius Black, possible the most infamous prisoner ever to be held in Azkaban Fortress, is still eluding capture, the Ministry of Magic confirmed today.

"We are doing all we can to recapture Black," said the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, this morning, "and we beg the magical community to remain calm and alert a Ministry official if Black is spotted." Fudge has been criticized by some members of the Wizengamot and the International Federation of Warlocks for informing the Muggle Prime Minister, John Major, of the crisis.

"Well, really, I had to, don't you know," said an irritable Fudge. "After what he did, it was only fair to inform the Muggle Prime Minister of the situation; Black is mad, after all, and is not above repeating his infamous act." Black was imprisoned in Azkaban after murdering thirteen people with a single curse, the day after He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's fall.

Harry looked into the hollow looking eyes of Black, and thought that Black looked like the textbook example of a vampire.

"Scary isn' he?" Stan said. "Them Azkaban guards will ge' im' though." With a loud bang, Harry saw that they had arrived at the Leaky Cauldron.

"Ere we are, Diagon Alley," Stan said and as Harry got off the bus, he saw something that made his heart sink. Standing outside of the pub was the Minister of Magic himself, Cornelius Fudge.


	4. Summer's End

Disclaimer: Harry is owned by J.K. Rowling oh and so is Ron and Hermione and Ginny oh and the rest of thr Weasleys, the whole world really... I'm just going to go and wish I didn't just own my OC's and had the whole world. Rate and Review as always

Chapter 4: Summer's End and a Frightful Encounter

Harry was shocked so much by being found so quickly that the next thing he knew, Fudge had led him by the shoulder into a private parlor in the Leaky Cauldron, asking Tom to bring refreshments for them.

"Well first some introductions," Fudge said with a grandfatherly smile, "my name is Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic." Harry knew this already, but Fudge wasn't supposed to know that as Harry had been under his Invisibility Cloak at the time.

Tom the innkeeper came in bearing a large tray of biscuits and tea for Harry and the Minister, and then he retreated out of the door to give them some privacy. Harry was extremely nervous as Fudge poured them each a cup of tea, wondering when the Minister would stop being nice and expel him.

"You've had us all in a right state, running away like that Harry, rather irresponsible of you given the state of things," Fudge said with a slight chuckle.

"The state of things, sir?" Harry asked confused a bit as to what Fudge was referring to.

"We have a killer on the loose, and a rather vicious one at that," Fudge said with a slight pallor.

"Sirius Black? What does he have to do with me?" Harry asked the Minister, still wondering when the proverbial axe would fall.

"Oh uh nothing of course, you're safe and sound and that's what matters after all," Fudge said evasively. "Now onto business, I'm happy to say that an hour ago the Accidental Magical Reversal Squad arrived at Number 4 Privet Drive. Your aunt's mind was wiped and she was deflated and that's that with no harm done," Fudge said with a chuckle.

"I don't understand sir, last year a house elf used a Levitation Charm and I received an official warning that anymore magic at Privet Drive would result in my expulsion," Harry asked.

"Well yes, you see, things change, you don't want to be expelled do you?" Fudge answered, though Harry couldn't help but notice how evasive Fudge was being. Obviously now, Black was either after Harry or Fudge was worried about the fallout of the Boy-Who-Lived being actually expelled.

"Of course not sir," Harry answered while he pondered the situation.

"I thought so, also for your information while your aunt and uncle are rather upset—" Fudge said while Harry thought '_understatement of the century probably.'_

"They have agreed to take you back if you spend the Christmas and Easter at Hogwarts," Fudge said with a smile, clearly not realizing how much the Dursleys hated Harry and vice versa.

"I won't go back to them Minister," Harry said with finality. "They have abused and ridiculed me all my life and I'm positively sick of it."

"Whatever do you mean Harry? I'm sure you care for each other erm very deep down inside," Fudge said.

"Minister, I lived in the cupboard under the stairs for most of my life, was beaten up by my cousin whenever he and his friends were bored and was forced to do all the chores around the house while they lazed around," Harry explained with repressed anger in his voice.

Fudge looked flabbergasted and couldn't speak for a moment. He was wondering if Dumbledore knew about this and why he had never done anything about it if he did. Deciding he needed to meet with the Headmaster immediately, Fudge stood up.

"Well until we resolve your long term dilemma Harry, I shall go see if Tom has any rooms available here at the Leaky Cauldron," Fudge said quickly and he briskly walked out of the parlor, leaving Harry alone with his thoughts.

Harry had a feeling telling the Minister what the Dursleys put him through every year was probably going to change things in a big way. The Minister, while shocked, was a politician and as Daphne had pointed out in one letter to him, most politicians only did things if they saw some value in it for themselves. Harry was sure that Fudge fell into that category quite snuggly, but he also realized that he could follow Daphne's advice and use this to his advantage by getting away from the Dursleys forever.

As Harry was coming to this realization, the Minister returned with Tom.

"Room Eleven is free Mr. Potter," Tom said with a toothless grin.

Harry, I want your word that you won't wander into Muggle London while you stay here," Fudge said a little sternly to get his point across. "Also, don't worry about the Dursleys, I shall endeavor to remedy the situation there as we all want is best for you."

"Don't worry Minister, I have no intention of going into the Muggle world, I'd much rather stay in Diagon Alley and thank you for looking into the Dursleys," Harry said with a smile.

"My pleasure Harry," Fudge said jovially, "now Tom will show you to your room." Fudge then left the parlor and Harry followed Tom up a second staircase to his room where he found—

"Hedwig!" Harry exclaimed with happiness as she flew over to land on his shoulder and nipped his ear gently.

"Right smart bird you got there Mr. Potter, she arrived right after you did," Tom said with a chuckle. "If you need anything, just call or come down to the bar," Tom said as he walked out the door with a slight bow.

"It's been a very weird night Hedwig," Harry said as he laid down on the bed, and immediately fell asleep.

Hogwarts

Dumbledore watched serenely as Cornelius ranted about what Harry had just told him about the Dursleys.

"And I will not stand the boy staying with those, those, those Muggles any longer Dumbledore," Fudge yelled out panting heavily.

"While I do agree Cornelius, it is for Harry's safety that he goes back to the Dursleys," Dumbledore said attempting to placate Fudge. "After Harry defeated Voldemort, I invoked a special ward based off Lily Potter's relationship with her sister that would protect Harry from serious harm." Dumbledore didn't think it was important to mention that the protection was a bit more complex than he explained as blood magic was frowned upon by the Ministry.

"You knew of these abuses Dumbledore?" Fudge seethed.

"To my great regret no," Dumbledore said, "I did not check on Harry during his childhood because I believed that Petunia would care for him as if he was one of her own."

"Well what can we do then Dumbledore, this can't go on," Fudge said exasperated.

"I'll make sure that someone checks in on Harry during the summer from now on Cornelius," Dumbledore answered simply.

"Well I guess that will work," Fudge said with a sigh. "Dumbledore, just make sure nothing happens to Harry or near him from now on."

"You have my word Cornelius," Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eye as Fudge grabbed his bowler hat and left the office.

Dumbledore leaned back in his chair with his troubled thoughts. While he had known that Harry was unhappy at Privet Drive, he had not known the extent of how horribly he had been treated. Dumbledore knew that while it was distasteful, and Minerva had let him know her opinion many times, it was for the greater good that Harry be protected. Sirius Black escaping was just an example to Dumbledore that dark times were ahead and Harry needed to be protected.

Diagon Alley

To say the next few days were some of the best Harry ever had would be an understatement. Using his new found freedom to move around Diagon Alley, Harry had been able to eat wherever he wanted, whenever he wanted, or just go wherever he wanted as long as it was within the wizarding shopping center. Harry had no intention of breaking his word to Fudge and venturing into the Muggle world and had settled into a routine after getting money from his Gringotts account.

First he would have breakfast down in the pub, enjoying the conversations that happened around him or he became a part of. After freshening up, Harry would go into the little courtyard, tap the brick wall with his wand and enter the alley for the rest of the day. To his surprise, he had found himself spending a lot of time in Flourish and Blotts, supplementing what he had been reading in his new schoolbooks. He was fascinated by the book on dueling that had been assigned; **Battle Arts and Techniques** by Jasper Kingley. Harry couldn't put it down, everything explained in it was down to the minute detail, all the spells outlined in it were astounding, and the fact it covered several different Muggle fighting techniques was surprising for a wizard book.

That wasn't to say that Harry hadn't been to other shops or found one other thing to fawn over. Harry had been passing by Quality Quidditch Supplies and seen something that had made him stop and stare. A new broom was on display and like it was calling to him, Harry had entered the store to learn about the Firebolt. Everything about the broom was perfection, from how the handle was aerodynamically centered, how each twig was bent to specific specifications for top speed, to the charms placed on it against jinxing. The only thing Harry hadn't asked about was the price because he was sure it was some exorbitant fee and would wipeout his vault.

This hadn't stopped Harry from coming to admire the broom a few times, but he did have other things to do that he had been putting off, like buying new school robes. Harry made his way to Madam Malkins' on his fifth day of staying at the Leaky Cauldron, deciding that on top of new robes he would treat himself to new clothes, as he was tired of wearing Dudley's hand-me-downs. As Harry entered the store he noticed that a very bubbly voice was talking to the shop's proprietor.

"OOOOO I'm really excited, I know I've said it a few times already, but studying at Hogwarts is gonna be amazing," the voice said. Hearing it again, Harry noticed she had a slight accent, maybe American. Harry edged around a stand of robes to see a soon to be first year having their measurements taken; the girl had long raven-colored hair with a hairband in it that had a water lily made of sapphire on it and large expressive blue eyes that matched her hairband.

"It's only natural to be excited dear," Madam Malkin said with a smile at the girl's antics. "There all done, you are free to go."

"Thanks my sister is probably getting impatient knowing her," the girl said with a large smile and she hopped off the stool and noticed Harry. "Hi there!" she said brightly "what's your name?"

"Uh, Harry," Harry stammered out, at a loss for the girl's bubbly personality.

"Mine is Nicole," she said with a large smile. "Well hope to see you at school, my sister said to meet her at Ollivander's so gotta go, bye!" Nicole then dashed out of the store, leaving Harry utterly confused by her actions.

"I'm glad to see young people still excited for school," Madam Malkin said with a small smile. "Did you need help dear?"

Shaking off his surprise, Harry turned to Madam Malkin and explained he needed new robes and some new clothes in the Muggle style. Madam Malkin was only too happy to help and Harry left the store an hour later, his money pouch rather empty and carrying several large bags. Stopping at the Leaky Cauldron for lunch and to deposit his purchases, Harry then walked back to Gringotts to replenish his money pouch a little. While at his vault Harry couldn't help but notice that the money pile looked larger than when he stopped last time. Thinking maybe it was his imagination; Harry scooped up more coins and left the bank to browse for his remaining school supplies and to get a birthday present for Ginny.

Harry walked to the small jewelry store near Madam Malkin's and started browsing the selection. One item in particular was catching his eye; a small charm bracelet that Harry was sure Ginny would love.

"How much is this charm bracelet?" Harry asked the shop owner.

"Ten Galleons, and that includes a charm of your own selection," the shop keeper said with a smile. "Shopping for someone special?"

"Just a friend's birthday," Harry said as he looked over the charm selection. "I'll take the small broomstick charm and throw in another two Sickles for the small lightning bolt."

"Alright then, here you go," the shop owner said as he handed Harry the bracelet and the two charms. Harry handed the money over and happy with his purchase, moved off to finish his school shopping.

By the time dinner rolled around, Harry had gotten everything he needed on his school list plus a few extra books on spells and dueling. Harry was actually feeling a little excited about one book in particular that detailed defensive wards and detection spells. Hurrying back to the Leaky Cauldron, Harry ordered a quick private dinner from Tom, eating it silently as he let the sounds of conversation from the main area of the pub wash over him.

As he passed the bar area to hand Tom back his clean plate, Harry did notice that the girl named Nicole from earlier was talking excitedly to an older girl with blonde hair with orange highlights and sky-blue eyes. Harry noticed she wore a necklace that kept glinting whenever it caught the light, which was a little strange. Shrugging, Harry went upstairs to continue reading while downstairs—

"So did you meet Harry Potter, Nicole?" the blond haired girl asked her younger sister as she tracked Harry with her eyes as he headed upstairs.

"Yes I did sis, and he is exactly how we thought he would be," Nicole answered brightly.

"Well we can't know that for certain, not until school starts and we see how he handles himself in class," the blond girl said.

"I'm sure he will live up to our expectations, sis," Nicole quipped as the blonde thought _'one can only hope.'_

As the days drew ever closer to the First of September, Harry started to keep an eye out for Ron, Hermione, or Ginny. He was seeing plenty of Hogwarts students in the alley now with term so close to starting. Harry had run into Seamus Finnegan and Dean Thomas ogling over the Firebolt at Quality Quidditch Supplies, Neville Longbottom and his grandmother Augusta browsing the shelves at Flourish & Blotts, several other acquaintances like Ernie McMillan and Susan Bones at other various shops. Harry was currently sitting outside Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor, enjoying a large sundae and thinking to himself.

Harry realized he really did need to branch out with his friends, while he loved Ron and Hermione to death; it was limiting his social circle and isolating him. He knew this was mostly his fault and he was now determined to remedy it. He thought he was on track to fixing that problem by becoming much better friends with Ginny, making friends with Daphne and Luna, but he felt he needed to do more. Harry was hoping during the next year he could become better friends with Neville; his fellow third year was always standing by Harry and it was time to return the favor.

Lost in his musings, Harry was taken by surprise when a blonde haired girl with sparkling blue eyes sat down at the table next to him facing away and said, "Why Mr. Potter, don't you know it's dangerous to be alone, someone in my house might get ideas."

"Well Ms. Greengrass, I appreciate the warning, but not even Malfoy would be stupid enough to try anything in a place this public," Harry said with a slight smile.

"You never know, Potter," Daphne said with a smirk then she leaned closer and whispered, "It's nice to see you again Harry."

"It's nice to see you too Daphne, how have been the last two weeks?" Harry whispered back barely moving his lips.

"Rather droll, my father kept dragging us to fundraising events and then Sirius Black escaping through some rather interesting pixies into the works," Daphne said. "How has been living in Diagon Alley and being discreetly tailed by an Auror been?"

"It's been the best time of my, wait what Auror?" Harry asked now scanning the crowd with his eyes without moving his head.

"The tall, bald black man admiring the model galaxy in that shop across the street, he's using the window to watch your reflection," Daphne said with a full smirk. "He's rather good, excellent even but my father did teach his girls well, though it begs the question why does the Ministry want you followed?"

"I promised Fudge that I wouldn't stray into Muggle London while I was here, maybe he assigned an Auror to make sure I didn't," Harry said puzzling it out. "But that still doesn't make sense, why an Auror, aren't they only assigned to people in danger?"

"Now you're thinking Potter," Daphne said with a smile. "What could make the Minister so concerned for the Boy-Who-Lived's health?"

"Sirius Black," Harry breathed out.

"Ding, we have a winner," Daphne said. "It makes sense that anyone important to our world has someone watching them when a mass murderer is out for revenge for Voldemort's fall."

"Yeah, wait did you just say Voldemort without flinching or squeaking or anything," Harry said amazed.

"Well yes, it is just a name after all," Daphne stated matter-of-factly.

"You're the first person other than me and Dumbledore that says the name," Harry said.

"My father and mother both say his name because we didn't fear him in the last war and stayed neutral," Daphne said with a bored tone. "Any who, heard from Ginny since you left your relatives?"

"No, and I'm rather worried what she will do when she gets done with me," Harry said paling a bit.

"And why are we so worried Harry," Daphne said with laughter in her eyes, "does someone have feelings for Ms. Weasley?"

"You don't know what she can do with a wand, her brothers have horror stories of when she was younger and her accidental magic went off," Harry rushed out. Daphne couldn't help but notice that a slight blush had crept up Harry's cheeks though. She would store that tidbit of information away for later.

"Fair enough, Harry, well must be off, lots of shopping to do," Daphne said brightly. "I'll see you on the train, if Weasley lets anyone into your cabin that is." Daphne got up and left, pretending to be in a huff about sitting so near a Gryffindor.

Harry just shook his head at her antics, but what she said about Ron was sticking with him. Thinking back now, it was Ron who always seemed to warn off about getting to know others well. Harry frowned at that and wondered why he would do that. '_Jealousy maybe about splitting my time with others outside of our little group makes sense knowing Ron and his issues with his brothers and living up to them.' _Harry decided that he was going to watch Ron closely this term and hopefully talk some sense into his best mate.

Harry got up after finishing his sundae, and just wandered saying hello to fellow Hogwarts students, but also watching for the man Daphne had pointed out. He could just barely find him at the best of times, and that raised an interesting question. Fudge was worried about Harry's safety in particular if he assigned someone this good, and the logical train of thought led Harry to realize he once again had a madman after him.

_'Just once I'd like for the psychotic madman to not be after me,' _Harry thought with a resigned sigh as he walked past the Apothecary towards the Leaky Cauldron. '_Well I'll deal with that when it comes, maybe I'll see the Weasleys and Hermione tomorrow.' _With that thought, Harry walked back into the Leaky and decided to sit and read one of his Defense books.

Harry woke up on the last day of August, expecting that if he didn't see them today he would run into the Weasleys and Hermione on the train tomorrow. Moving downstairs after showering and getting dressed, Harry heard an all too familiar voice.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER, HOW DARE YOU MAKE ME WORRY ABOUT YOU RUNNING AWAY LIKE THAT AND NOT HEARING FROM YOU FOR TWO WEEKS," an irate red-headed witch said as she stomped up to him. Harry froze as Ginny laid into him for being so irresponsible and not writing even once to let her know that he was safe. One thing he couldn't help noticing was Ginny was kind of pretty when she was angry, her eyes were brighter and she had a certain glow about her.

"Uh Ginny, I don't think Harry knew when we were coming back," Ron said trying to calm down his sister as he walked up with Hermione next to him.

"Ron's right, Ginny, I would have written to you but by the time the letter would arrive, you would probably be back here," Harry said.

"I don't care he should know better," Ginny said still rather angry and she had somehow gotten her wand into her hand without anyone seeing.

"Ginny put your wand away," Hermione said sternly, "you know we can't do magic outside school." Ginny just glared at Hermione but reluctantly put her wand away and turned back to Harry. She then launched herself at him and hugged him tightly.

"It's nice to see you again too Ginny," Harry said as he felt a slight growl in his stomach.

As Ginny let go of him, blushing a little, Hermione hugged him too and Ron just shook his head at the girl's reactions.

"So how did you guys know I was staying here?" Harry asked.

"Dad of course," Ron explained. "He heard at the Ministry you ran away and were staying here."

"Did you really blow up your aunt, Harry?" Hermione said with a reprimanding tone.

"I just lost control, Hermione I didn't mean to but she did deserve it," Harry said as Ginny and Ron broke into hysterical laughter, while Hermione looked scandalized.

"Ron, Ginny, it's nothing to laugh over, Harry could have been expelled," Hermione said.

"Forget expelled, I was surprised I didn't get arrested," Harry said. "Your dad doesn't know the reason why Fudge did nothing?"

"No, dad isn't high up enough in the Ministry to hear about that sort of thing first hand maybe office gossip," Ginny said with a slight sigh.

"You probably just got let off because you're you, the famous Harry Potter," Ron said still chuckling.

"Maybe," Harry said thinking about the conversation he had with Daphne and that it probably wouldn't be the best idea to tell Ron he was friends with a Slytherin. "So you guys are staying at the Leaky Cauldron until tomorrow?"

"Yeppers, mom should be back soon with the shopping," Ginny said with a smile.

"Oh Harry check this out, brand new wand. Thirty five centimeters, willow, with a unicorn hair as its core," Ron said proudly, while Harry was still a bit guilty about how Ron's old wand had broken last year.

"Come on, Ron I've still got some Galleons left, I want to go get an owl," Hermione said starting to drag Ron by the hand. "You two coming?" she asked Harry and Ginny.

"I've got to give Ginny her birthday present, so we will meet you guys there," Harry answered as Ginny blushed a bit that Harry had gotten her something.

"Alright then," Hermione said with a calculating look at the both of them, while Ron looked a bit suspicious. The two of them left, leaving Harry and Ginny standing there for a moment.

"Do you think those two are ever going to get together?" Ginny said with a chuckle.

"Hopefully sooner rather than later," Harry said. "Come on, let's get you your present." Harry started heading back upstairs while Ginny followed him up to his room. Harry headed over to his trunk, opened it, and pulled out a small gift-wrapped box.

"Here you go, Gin I hope you like it," Harry said with a shy smile. Ginny took the box with slightly shaking hands.

"Really Harry you didn't need to get me anything," Ginny said as she unwrapped and opened the box to find a beautiful charm bracelet with a lightning bolt and a broom on it.

"Oh Harry, its beautiful thank you," Ginny gushed as she quickly put it on and hugged Harry tightly in thanks. Harry was quite pleased that she liked it and even more pleased he got a hug out of it.

_ 'Whoa why am I thinking these sorts of things about Ginny?' _ Harry thought to himself as Ginny let go, leaving Harry a little bereft.

"Let's go meet Ron and Hermione; they are probably at each other's throats," Ginny said with a bright smile and taking Harry by the hand whisked him out of his room, out of the Leaky Cauldron, and onto Diagon Alley. As they walked down the alley, talking about this and that, Ginny was ecstatic inside. Harry was obviously starting to look at her in a different light than as Ron's little sister, maybe even more than just a good friend. She would be patient though and not push him towards anything, even if all she wanted to do right now was snog him. Yes, she thought, patience was key when it came to Harry, but she was hoping by the end of the year something might happen.

Ginny was interrupted from her thoughts from the unmistakable sounds of Hermione and Ron bickering.

"Honestly Ronald, just because this adorable cat leapt onto your head doesn't mean he is a monster," Hermione huffed as she held a rather large orange cat with a squashed face to her chest.

"Hermione, that thing tried to eat Scabbers and he doesn't need that stress, he is already sick as it is," said Ron protecting his lazy pet. Harry rolled his eyes at their antics while Ginny just giggled as Ron and Hermione continued to bicker over Hermione's new cat named Crookshanks and Ron's rat without realizing that Harry and Ginny were standing right there.

"Uh guys, this seems sort of like something silly to be arguing over, Crookshanks is a cat and they do like to eat mice and rats Ron," Harry said trying to defuse the argument.

"Be quiet, Harry," they both said at the same time then went back to bickering while Ginny couldn't help it and laughed at the situation.

"Alright you two that's enough, Mum is probably waiting back at the Leaky Cauldron by now," Ginny said.

"Fine, just keep that thing away from Scabbers, Hermione," Ron said.

"I can try to," Hermione said.

As the group started heading back towards the Leaky Cauldron, Ron started droning on about the Firebolt, Harry and Ginny walking back side-by-side, and Hermione watching them with a curious look. '_Since when were Harry and Ginny this close, is Ginny getting her wish now?'_

As the group entered the pub, they saw Mr. Weasley sitting at the bar, with a Daily Prophet lying on the bar talking with Tom. He turned around and noticed the kids.

"Harry!" Mr. Weasley exclaimed with a smile, "how are you?"

"I'm fine Mr. Weasley, ready to head back to school," Harry replied. Harry saw the familiar picture of Sirius Black on the front page of Mr. Weasley's paper. "Still haven't found him yet?" Harry asked as he, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny sat down next to Mr. Weasley.

"Unfortunately no, he is proving to be rather clever in his hiding, even if he is insane," Mr. Weasley sighed. "Everyone at the Ministry has been pulled off their normal assignments to help find him, but it's not working."

"Is there a reward for his capture, Dad," Ron asked excitedly, "we could always use some more gold—."

"Don't be ridiculous Ron, a thirteen year old wizard is not going to catch Black," Mr. Weasley said looking strained. "It will be the dementors who catch Black, mark my words."

Before Harry could ask what a dementor was for the group in general, Mrs. Weasley came bustling in with the Weasleys' shopping, with Fred, George, and Percy carrying the bags.

"Oh hello Harry dear, how are you?" Mrs. Weasley said warmly.

"Why yes Harry old boy how are you?" Fred said extending his hand for Harry to shake when he was elbowed out of the way by his twin.

"Positively spiffing I'm sure," George said also extending his hand when his brother dragged him back.

"Don't mind him old bean, he's just jealous I'm sure," Fred stated.

"ENOUGH FRED, GEORGE," Mrs. Weasley snapped at the twins while Harry, Ron, and Ginny couldn't stop laughing.

"Sorry, Mum," they chorused together with smiles that would make the Cheshire Cat proud as Mrs. Weasley just massaged her temples.

"I suppose you've heard the exciting news Harry, second Head Boy in the family," Mrs. Weasley said beaming at Percy.

"And the last," Fred muttered under his breath.

"I wouldn't be so certain of that Fred," Mrs. Weasley snapped, "and I notice that Minerva and Albus didn't make you two prefects."

"What fun would it be to be prefects, Mum," George asked with a slight scoff and his brother nodded.

"You can set a better example for Ginny," Mrs. Weasley scolded.

"Don't worry Mum, I won't follow their lead, I have other brothers to look up to," Ginny said with an innocent smile, but Harry and the twins knew she was lying through her teeth.

"Ginny is right, Mum she has far more ambitious brothers to take example from," Percy said loftily as he walked past.

"We tried to lock him away in a pyramid, but Mum caught us before we could get the seal shut," George whispered in Harry's ear so that Mrs. Weasley wouldn't overhear.

Harry laid down on his bed, quite tired from how fun the day had been. Dinner had been a very interesting occasion, with the twins reminiscing about Egypt, Ron still praising the Firebolt every chance he could, Mrs. Weasley fussing over Ginny, who would look at Harry pleading for help when her mother wasn't looking. Mr. Weasley, Hermione and Percy had been discussing how security might be different at Hogwarts just in case Sirius Black tried anything there. After that, the kids had all gotten together to play some wizarding chess, which Ron destroyed all of them at, while the twins had congratulated him on upsetting Percy by leaving the room they were sharing a mess.

Harry smiled as he thought about how he had walked back upstairs a little later after wishing Ginny and Hermione a good night, they had wanted to have some girl talk, he had found the twins outside Ron and Percy's room chuckling as they had stolen Percy's Head Boy badge and altered it to read Bighead Boy. Harry had clearly heard a wild search being conducted by Percy to find the badge, and he had advised the twins to let Percy find it at the opportune time.

Harry sighed and closed his eyes, as he knew the next morning was going to be hectic and he would need energy to be ready. The last thought Harry had before falling asleep was how Ginny had looked as he had wished her a good night, and it was that image that would float through his dreams. Harry didn't know that at the time he was falling asleep, the girl in his dreams was lying in bed, thinking about the conversation she had with Hermione.

**Flashback**

"What's going on with you and Harry?" Hermione said to Ginny as they watched the subject of her question walk upstairs.

"Nothing, he's just being more of a friend after what happened last term," Ginny said, desperately trying to keep her face neutral and blush from rising.

"Oh really now, because that new charm bracelet is rather fetching for a birthday present," Hermione said with a smirk. "Plus, I'm sure you've noticed Harry is dressing nicer than he ever has and it shows."

"Okay the charm bracelet is granted a bit expensive for a birthday present, but Harry does like to do nice things for friends," Ginny said while avoiding answering the second part to the question. She had noticed and it was challenging her resolve to be patient with Harry and not snog him senseless.

"You're avoiding the other part of that question," Hermione said with that triumphant smile that she always had when she was right about something.

"Fine," Ginny hissed looking around just in case Harry or Ron had returned downstairs, "yes, Harry looks extremely fetching with his new clothes and yes I want to snog him senseless. Happy are you?!"

Hermione smiled and patted Ginny's hand and said, "He is noticing you more and that is progress, why not try to be more pro-active though in catching him?"

"Because Hermione, we both know Harry can't be forced into anything he doesn't want, so I'm going to be patient," Ginny said with conviction.

"For how long?" Hermione asked with a tilt of her head.

"The end of the year, if nothing happens by then, well I'll take matters in my own hands," Ginny said with an evil smile.

Hermione started giggling at this that is until Ginny hit back with her own question.

"So what are you going to do about my dear prat of a brother?" Ginny said still with the evil smile as Hermione flushed immediately.

"I have no idea what you are talking about Ginny," Hermione said not looking her in the eye.

"Oh I'm sure well if I can offer some advice on this non-existent thing, you have to be blunt with Ron or these things will sail over his head," Ginny said as she got up to head upstairs to bed.

As she got to the bottom of the stairs, Ginny heard Hermione whisper her thanks to the advice and she smiled as she went up to their room.

**End Flashback**

The next morning, Tom woke Harry up with his usual toothless wakeup call and morning tea. Harry went and showered, got dressed in a nice pair of jeans and a t-shirt with a button up over it, and was in the process of persuading Hedwig to get back into her cage for the trip to platform nine and three-quarters when Ron shuffled in gruffly.

"I can't wait to be on the train and away from Percy, he's going around the twist mate," Ron said grumpily.

"Why's that?" Harry asked as he finally got Hedwig back into her cage with a treat.

"Because he's accusing me of dripping tea onto a picture of his girlfriend and I didn't do it, Ginny or the twins probably did," Ron said as he huffed.

"That seems to be jumping to conclusions Ron," Harry said with a chuckle, "the twins are a lot more devious than that and Ginny is far more subtle about pranks."

"Well maybe—," Ron started to say and Harry cut him off.

"Look just drop it for now, did you finish packing yet?" Harry asked.

"Oh crap, I need to go throwing my clothes and books in my trunk," Ron said with a panicked expression and he ran from the room. Harry just shook his head at his friend's procrastination, grabbed his trunk and Hedwig's cage and headed downstairs to find most of the Weasleys and Hermione enjoying a light breakfast.

"Oh good, all packed and ready," Mrs. Weasley said bustling forward. "Arthur said the cars are going to be here soon and I want everyone to be ready, where's Ron?"

"He's upstairs still packing," Harry said, "but why is the Ministry sending cars Mrs. Weasley?"

"Well Arthur got them as favor and as we don't have one anymore and it would raise too many questions if we took the Muggle Underground," Mrs. Weasley said as she started to head upstairs to hurry up her youngest son. Harry walked towards the bar to grab breakfast, all the while thinking that Mrs. Weasley had sounded rather evasive with her answer about the Ministry cars.

'_Maybe Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were told to protect me by Fudge or Dumbledore from Sirius Black and the cars are a way to make sure I'm under someone's eye until I'm on the train,'_ Harry thought as he grabbed some toast and sat down next to Ginny. She smiled sweetly at Harry and went back to her conversation with Hermione about what she would be learning in Charms this year.

Harry knew he needed to tell Ron, Hermione, and Ginny about his suspicions on why Sirius Black escaped but he didn't have a chance in the chaos of breakfast or when the cars arrived and everyone started lugging trunks and pets out to them.

"You first Harry," Mr. Weasley said causally scanning the crowd, which only confirmed to Harry that the Weasleys were told to make sure he was safe. Harry got into the car, followed by Ginny, Ron, Hermione, and to Ron's ire, Percy. The trip was rather uneventful, although Harry noticed two things. One the Ministry cars were able to slip through impossibly narrow gaps, and the second was that Ginny's hand accidentally kept brushing up against his, sending the occasional weird sensation through it.

They reached King's Cross Station with twenty minutes; the Ministry drivers found them trolleys for their trunks, and as they walked into the station Harry could have sworn that he saw an Auror badge hidden on the inside lapel of one of the driver's coat. Mr. Weasley motioned for Harry to stay close to him and as they reached the barrier, he pretended to lean against it and Harry imitated him. Falling quickly through, Harry couldn't help but smile at the scarlet Hogwarts Express as the rest of the group came through the barrier.

"Well must be off people to meat and all," Percy said as he walked off to meet a pretty girl with curly, long hair. Harry and Ginny shared a look and a quick laugh over how Percy was strutting with his badge on full display. Harry and Ginny led the way to rear compartment of the Hogwarts Express, stowed theirs and Ron and Hermione's trunks and pets, and walked back to the platform to say good-bye.

Mrs. Weasley kissed all of her children, then Hermione, and finally Harry. Harry felt his face flush a bit from embarrassment, but he wasn't going to complain about actually getting some motherly affection.

"Now be safe and study hard all of you," Mrs. Weasley said. "Before I forget, I've got sandwichs for everyone now where did Fred go, FRED." As Mrs. Weasley bustled about, Mr. Weasley motioned for Harry to join him a little ways from everyone else.

"I'm not sure how to tell you this Harry, and the Minister would be rather upset about me telling you this but—," Mr. Weasley said as Harry cut him off.

"It's alright Mr. Weasley, I kind of riddled out that Sirius Black is after me," Harry said with a slight smile.

"I'm not surprised Harry, you have solid mind," Mr. Weasley said with a chuckle before his levity disappeared. "What I wanted to say though Harry was I want you to not go looking for Black," Mr. Weasley said intensely.

"Why would I go looking for a murdering psychopath?" Harry said confused. Before Mr. Weasley could answer, they both heard Mrs. Weasley call for them that the train was about to leave.

"Just promise me you won't look for Black, Harry," Mr. Weasley said as he guided Harry towards the train quickly, where Harry promptly jumped onto the carriage, and Ron threw the door open for him. Turning around, Harry nodded at Mr. Weasley quickly in agreeing to his request, and waved at both Weasleys as the train rounded the bend.

Harry turned back to Ron, Hermione, and Ginny and muttered, "I need to talk to you guys in private."

"Go away, Ginny," Ron said rudely.

"Sorry, but Harry included me that request of private conversation," Ginny said serenely. Ron just huffed and walked grumpily with Hermione as they tried to find an empty compartment. Everything was full except for the last compartment, which was occupied by an adult wizard in shabby robes who was clearly asleep. They all looked at each other before going in, the wizard looked a touch ill, but he was rather young, probably in his mid-30's but his hair had a touch of gray to it.

"Who do think that is?" Ron asked to the general group.

"Professor R. J. Lupin," Hermione said promptly as everyone else looked at her.

"How the hell do you know everything?" Ron asked as Harry and Ginny chuckled and took a seat next to each other.

"It's on his suitcase, honestly Ronald," Hermione said with smile to take the sting out of her reprimand and they sat next to each other.

"I wonder what he is going to be teaching," Harry said.

"Well it's obvious isn't it," Ron said with a chuckle, "only one open post, Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"Actually, he might be the new Dueling teacher," Ginny said.

"He doesn't look like he could handle teaching dueling," Hermione said glancing at Professor Lupin. "So what did you want to talk to us about Harry?"

Harry quickly explained how he had figured out Sirius Black was after him, minus his conversation with Daphne as he didn't want Ron to blow a gasket, and how Mr. Weasley had cryptically warned Harry not to look for him.

Ginny was the first to react and she simply grabbed Harry's hand in silent gesture of support, which Harry couldn't help but find nice. Hermione though looked worried.

"Sirius Black escaped to just come after you? Oh Harry you're going to have to be very careful and not go looking for trouble this year," Hermione said with the same worried expression.

"I don't go looking for trouble Hermione, it finds me like I'm a beacon or something," harry said with a small chuckle.

"Yeah, Harry isn't stupid enough to go looking for the nutter who is out to get him," Ron said matter-of-factly, but with slight tremor to his voice. "Relax Hermione; nothing is going to happen with Dumbledore watching at Hogwarts."

"I suppose so," Hermione said relenting, but what Ron said made Harry think that maybe Dumbledore was not the invincible barrier that everyone made him out to be. Harry glanced at Ginny who was clearly thinking similar thoughts. As Ron and Hermione were discussing Black, a whistling sound started to come from above Harry.

"Harry, I think your Sneakoscope is going off," Ron said a bit sheepishly.

Harry quickly stood up and muffled the Sneakoscope in his robes more to make sure Professor Lupin didn't wake up. He shifted a bit but kept sleeping, while Hermione looked excited.

"I didn't know you go Harry a Sneakoscope," Hermione said excitedly.

"It's a rather cheap one, kept going off as I was tying onto Errol," Ron said.

"Were you doing anything sneakily?" Hermione asked with a slightly stern tone.

"Well I was using Errol without asking, as he isn't up to long flights, but I needed to get Harry his present," Ron countered.

"We could get it checked in Hogsmeade, if it is malfunctioning," Hermione said with a big grin as she started to rattle off all about the village while Ron would slip in comments about Honeydukes. Harry chuckled and joined into the conversation occasionally, but he did notice Ginny looked a little upset. Harry knew it was because she wouldn't be able to join them in Hogsmeade for another year.

'_Well we can't have her being all sad can we,' _Harry thought to himself as he squeezed Ginny's hand discreetly. She looked at him with a thankful look, and Harry noticed an ever so slight blush. The conversation drifted from subject to subject after that as the Hogwarts Express steadily made its way towards Scotland. Rain started to patter against the window and it was steadily getting darker and darker. People kept running up and down the hallways, sometimes one of their classmates would stop and say hello, but not the people Harry or Ginny wanted to stop by.

At one o'clock, the witch with the lunch trolley stopped at their compartment, Harry bought a few Bertie Botts and Cauldron Cakes for their group and tried to wake up Professor Lupin. When he didn't wake up, the trolley witch said if he woke up and got hungry he could find her up front with the driver. Having Professor Lupin did turn out to be a good thing when at midday, Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle appeared.

"Well, well, well, Potty, the Weasels and the Mudblood," Malfoy drawled at his school enemies. "I heard your father finally got a little gold, did your mother die of shock?"

Ron stood up and moved towards Malfoy, but Harry and Hermione grabbed him and put him back in his seat. Surprisingly, Ginny was the one to answer Malfoy.

"Well Malfoy, it was nice to see family and spend a good time away from the cancer infecting our society," Ginny said with a smile.

Malfoy looked confused for a second, not seeing the trap, and answered, "It seems the Weaslette knows what is right then, filthy Mudbloods destroying our world."

"Oh I didn't mean them," Ginny said with a light laugh, "I meant the arrogant, bigoted purebloods that can't stand change and think themselves entitled to everything."

"Why you little—," Malfoy started to say before he noticed the other occupant in the compartment. "Who's that?"

"New professor, so what were you saying Malfoy?" Harry asked with an infuriating smile.

Malfoy looked one more time at Professor Lupin, then left briskly with Crabbe and Goyle.

"That went rather well," a voice Harry and Ginny recognized. "You certainly put him in his place without rising to the bait."

"Hi Daphne," Harry and Ginny said with a smile at the blonde Slytherin. Ron looked flabbergasted and Hermione surprised at the Slytherin Ice Queen visiting their compartment.

"Hello to you two as well," Daphne said with a smile. She looked over at the still speechless Ron and Hermione and said, "They don't speak much do they, and weird you would think they would have more to say."

Ron found his voice first and angrily said, "You can go away you Slytherin harpie, and you aren't welcome here."

"Is that so?" Daphne said with a sly smile. "If that was the case, then why would Harry and Ginny greet me as a friend?"

"Probably because you hoodwinked them," Ron said getting right into her face.

"No she didn't trick us Ron," Harry said trying to be patient with his best mate while Ginny looked like she wanted to hex Ron. "We bumped into each other heading to the carriages last term and became friends."

"She probably put a Compulsion Charm on you two," Ron said.

"One we don't learn Compulsion Charms until fourth year, and two they only last a few minutes to an hour," Daphne said lazily.

"She's right," Hermione said finding her voice, "Ron be polite and sit down."

"That's okay Granger, just wanted to stop and say hello, Tracey went to flirt with Blaise so I was able to have a little time to associate with my favorite Gryffindors," Daphne said as she turned to walk away. "See you all later, oh and Weasley do try and learn some manners next time we speak, you only get one more chance before the claws come out."

As Daphne walked back down the corridor, she stopped and turned to see another blonde witch with orange highlights in her hair looking at her with a smile. Daphne opened her mouth to say hello to the new girl, but she disappeared back into her compartment and closed the door. Shrugging, Daphne went to find Tracey and go back to being the Ice Queen.

Ron sat in angry silence at not getting any support from the others. Hermione though was intrigued by what had happened.

"So you two have been sending letters to her and vice versa?" Hermione asked Harry and Ginny.

"Yeah, but she always writes in code because she's a touch paranoid about being caught with Gryffindors as friends," Harry explained and Ginny nodded in agreement.

"She's not what I expected, very dramatic, and very on her toes," Hermione said while Ron huffed.

"She's a dirty Slytherin, she's probably trying to earn our trust then stab us in the back," Ron said.

"Ron, I can put up with a lot, but don't say bad things about people you don't know," Harry said irritated at his best friend.

"Sorry Harry, but I don't trust her and you shouldn't either," Ron said, not realizing that Hermione and Ginny were glaring at him or the irritated look Harry had. Before anyone could say anything though, the compartment went black as the light went out and the train started to slow down.

"What's going on, we can't be there yet?" Hermione said as the looming argument was forgotten for the moment.

"I think someone is coming on board," Ron said as he looked out the window.

Harry moved to look out into the hallway when the door slid open and a large shadow fell inside, knocking Harry down.

"Ow sorry, who's that?" the shadow said.

"It's me Harry, what are you doing here Neville?" Harry said as he got up.

"I was coming to say hi, but then everything went black, and I got scared," Neville said with a shaky voice.

"Well sit down and—," Harry started to say when the door slid open again and a dreamy voice said, "Ginny, are you in here?"

"Right here Luna," Ginny said as she grabbed the silhouette that was Luna and sat her down.

"Thank you," Luna said serenely in the dark as Harry and Neville found space to sit down. "I really hope it's nothing bad, I was looking forward to pudding. I don't like how the Gremlins took out the lights."

Before anyone could comment, the rain hitting the window started to freeze over and everyone's breath was coming out in chilly crystals. Harry looked around trying to find the source of the freezing while the others started talking louder until a hoarse voice called out.

"Quiet," the now clearly awake Professor Lupin said as he got to his feet. They heard a mutter of "Lumos" and a light appeared showing the new professor's slightly lined face.

"Stay where you are," Professor Lupin stated clearly and started to move towards the door when it started to slide open on its own. On the threshold, illuminated in the light of the professor's wand, was a large floating cloaked figure. A hand was showing from beneath the cloak that looked like flesh that had rotted underwater and as if sensing the eyes on it, the hand disappeared.

The figure then took a rattling breath and the temperature dropped, and Harry felt an extreme cold start to slip into him. The cold was spreading and Harry started to pass out, hearing screaming in his ears. Just before he saw black, he heard Professor Lupin say some spell and a bright silver shape rushed the figure, causing it to retreat.

Harry gradually woke up, and as he looked around he saw the light was back on and the train was moving again.

"Ah Harry good you're awake," Professor Lupin said with a smile as he helped Harry off the floor. Harry didn't even question how the professor knew his name, most people did.

"What was that thing?" Harry asked as he sat back down next to a shaken Ginny and Luna. Ron and Hermione merely looked perturbed and Neville was pale and staring off into space.

"That was one of the dementors of Azkaban," Professor Lupin said as he searched his pockets, where he pulled out a large bar of chocolate. "Eat this, chocolate helps counteract the effects of a dementor, now if you'll excuse me I need to speak with the driver." The professor walked out of the compartment and Harry bit into his chunk of chocolate and instantly felt better.

"So who was screaming?" Harry asked.

"No one screamed Harry," Hermione said, "although both Ginny and her friend were shaking badly and Neville got really white."

"What you heard was a memory, Harry," Luna whispered. "Dementors make people relive their worst memories and suck all the happiness out of someone." Luna looked out the window and Harry saw a single tear fall and realized she hadn't sounded dreamy when she explained what the dementor did.

Harry knew what memory he had probably started to hear was that Halloween night, twelve years ago. Harry glanced at Ginny and he also knew she had been back in the Chamber and he pulled her into a one armed hug to support. Ginny was grateful for the comfort, but neither noticed the suspicious look on Ron's still slightly perturbed face. They were all silently thinking about what happened when Professor Lupin returned.

"We are about ten minutes away from the castle now," he said with smile. "How is everyone feeling?"

"Better professor," Hermione said answering for the group.

"What was that spell you used to send that dementor away?" Harry asked the professor.

"It's something called a Patronus, and it is the only defense we have against a dementor," Professor Lupin answered easily.

"Would it be possible to learn how to cast one?" Ginny asked quietly.

"It is a rather advanced spell, not something a young witch or wizard can learn easily," Professor Lupin said sadly. "But if you are all determined to learn, I can help after school is settled in."

"Thank you professor," Harry said with determination in his eyes. He did not want to relive any part of that night if he could help it. "So you're the new DADA professor then?"

"That's right and no I won't be sharing my lesson plans," Professor Lupin said with a laugh at the eager expression on Hermione's face. The rest of the train ride was spent talking with Professor Lupin and forming a tighter friendship with Neville and Luna on Harry's part. Ron didn't seem too pleased by Harry including Neville and Luna, but he was going to learn one way or another that Harry could talk with whoever he chose. Another thing Ron may not have been pleased about was Harry still had his arm around Ginny, who was very content not to move.

As the train started to slow down, the boys and Professor Lupin moved out of the compartment to let the girls change, then the boys went back in to throw their robes on while the professor told them he would see them all at the Welcoming Feast. As one group, they moved out onto the platform to hear a familiar voice boom out "Firs' years this way!"

Harry, Ron and Hermione turned to see the giant silhouette of Hagrid and waved at him as the mass of people prevented them from saying their greetings. Moving towards the carriages, Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione got into one carriage while Neville and Luna got into another. The carriages all started the bumpy trip up to the castle as the rain howled around them. As they passed the gates, Harry took a deep breath as a very unwelcome cold tried to seep in as they passed two floating dementors.

'_Great, those dementors are now guarding the grounds they are going to make this an unpleasant year I feel,' _Harry thought with a sigh. Looking out the window, the majestic sight of the turrets and towers of Hogwarts eased his mind and he could finally say he was home.


	5. Sortings and First Lessons

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter and all of his magnificent world as we all know, O.C. are mine please rate and review

Warning some dialogue and descriptive writing from Prisoner of Azkaban is present

Chapter 5: Sortings and First Lessons

The carriages trundled up the last bit of the path up to the stone steps of Hogwarts as rain started to fall even harder. At last the carriage Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny were in came to a shuddering stop and they clambered out. A drawling voice then carried over the crowd towards them.

"Is it true Potter, you actually fainted on the train?" Malfoy asked as he elbowed Hermione out of the way to block their group from going up the stairs.

"Shove off Malfoy," Ron said, his fists clenched and a furious look on his face.

"Awe did you faint too Weasel, or maybe your sister had a spell?" Malfoy said mockingly and rather loudly.

"Is there a problem here?" a mild voice said from behind them. Professor Lupin emerged from one of the carriages and moved towards them.

Malfoy glanced over Professor Lupin with a contemptuous look, taking in the professor's patched robes and his beaten-up suitcase.

"Oh nothing Professor," Malfoy said with a touch of sarcasm in his voice. Turning he walked into the castle with Crabbe and Goyle flanking him as always. Lupin looked confused for a second then shrugged and made his way into the castle with the rest of the students. Hermione prodded Ron to get moving and the four of them made their way into the Entrance Hall.

The doors into the Great Hall were thrown open, showing the long House tables and enchanted ceiling which was displaying the stormy, dark weather outside. Following the crowd, Harry and the rest of their group almost made into the Great Hall when a crisp voice called out to them.

"Potter! Granger! I want to see you both!" Professor McGonagall, the no-nonsense Head of Gryffindor House and Transfiguration Teacher, said as she made her way towards them. Harry and Hermione glanced at each other nervously and made their way over to Professor McGonagall while Ron and Ginny followed behind them.

"Don't look so worried you two, I just need a brief word," Professor McGonagall said. "You two can head into the Great Hall, Mr. Potter and Ms. Granger will be along before the Sorting starts. Harry and Hermione followed Professor McGonagall up to her office, where a welcome fire was blazing in the grate and the House Cup glinted in the firelight on a nearby shelf.

"Now Potter, Professor Lupin sent a message ahead that said you had taken ill on the train when the dementors made their search," Professor McGonagall stated as there was a knock at the door and Madam Pomfrey bustled in and Harry couldn't help but groan a little.

"Dementors around the school, oh Mr. Potter won't be the last I see because of their effects," Madam Pomfrey said as she moved up to examine Harry. "Yes, he's all clammy."

"Does he require a potion, possibly a night in the hospital wing?" Professor McGonagall said as Harry could feel his face start to burn from the embarrassment.

"Nothing like that, he should just require some chocolate," Madam Pomfrey said with a critical eye at Harry.

"I'm fine," Harry said. "Professor Lupin gave us all some chocolate on the train right after the dementor left."

"Ah, a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher that is unsurprisingly competent, why I remember…" Madam Pomfrey started to ramble before Professor McGonagall cut her off.

"We shouldn't discuss such things in front of students, Poppy," Professor McGonagall said. "Well if you're feeling fine then, if you wouldn't mind waiting outside Mr. Potter for Ms. Granger, we can head down to the Sorting just as the first years arrive."

Harry followed Madam Pomfrey out the door and watched as she bustled back towards the hospital wing thinking about something she had been about to say.

'_I wonder if Madam Pomfrey knew Professor Lupin when he was a student here and that's why McGonagall cut her off. Would make sense I suppose to not let the students hear stories about the professors when they were younger.'_

The door opened then and Hermione and Professor McGonagall walked out, with Hermione looking ecstatic about something. Harry gave her a curious look and she simply shook her head in answer to his unasked question. The three of them made their way down to the Great Hall just as tiny Professor Flitwick led the first years through the doors.

Harry and Hermione quickly found Ron and Ginny, who had left seats open for the two of them. Harry took the one next to Ginny, while Hermione took the one next to Ron. Ginny smiled at Harry, but didn't say anything as the new first years passed by. Most of the first years looked between either nervous or scared, and Harry couldn't help but chuckle at his own memory of being sorted, earning a weird look from Ginny. Harry noticed that the girl named Nicole and her sister were amongst the first years, which surprised him as Nicole's sister looked to be as old as Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

Harry started to scan the staff table as the Sorting Hat was brought out and saw Professor Lupin talking animatedly with a stranger with a gray goatee and steel blue eyes. Professor Snape was looking at Lupin with unrestrained hate, which intrigued Harry a little since while Snape always was jealous of not getting the post of DADA, he looked livid at Lupin. Dumbledore looked serene as always as he looked out over the students and Hagrid was discussing something with Professor Sprout.

Flitwick moved to sit down at his seat and Professor McGonagall moved forward with a scroll she hadn't been holding a second ago. She stood silently to the side of the stool that the tattered old Sorting Hat on and they all waited for it to begin its annual song. The hat then opened up at the seam between the brim and cap and started to sing.

_A millennium or so ago,_

_Back when this legend first began,_

_There lived four wizards of renown,_

_Whose names are still know all around,_

_Sir Gryffindor, so brave and bold,_

_Elegant and clever, Ravenclaw,_

_Charming and faithful Lady Hufflepuff,_

_Cunning and ambitious Slytherin,_

_All shared the same hope and dream,_

_And formed a bold and daring plan,_

_To teach the world's young sorcerers._

_And so Hogwarts school began,_

_But each of the four had different plans,_

_And different values to uphold,_

_So four houses, they did create,_

_For the students they chose to take._

_Sir Gryffindor sought the brave,_

_And taught the always to be strong._

_To Ravenclaw the clever were drawn,_

_With an unending thirst for knowledge. _

_Lady Hufflepuff prized hard work and loyalty,_

_Far above the rest, you see._

_The cunning and ambitious,_

_Sir Slytherin did lead,_

_And while alive they did divide,_

_Their favourites from the rest._

_But how to choose them later on,_

_When our dear founders are dead and gone?_

_Sir Gryffindor did a find a way,_

_As he pulled me off his head,_

_The founders put some brains in me  
So I could choose instead!  
Now slip me snug a top your head,_

_I'm not known for being wrong,_

_I'll have a look inside your head,_

_And put you right where you belong._

The students applauded and the Hat did a slight bow before becoming inert and silent. Professor McGonagall moved up and opened the scroll in her hand. "When I call your name, you may come up, place the Sorting Hat on your head and you will be sorted into one of the four houses," she said. "Barry, Leonard," Professor McGonagall called out and a nervous first year made his way up and put the hat on. The hat was silent for a moment then yelled out, "HUFFLEPUFF." Leonard pulled the hat off, looking relieved and went to the cheering Hufflepuff table.

As Professor McGonagall went through the list of names and the first years were sorted, Harry watched the looks of relief pass across each face. So far, no one had really gathered a lot of attention except from the house they had been sorted in. Then Professor McGonagall reached a name that Professor Dumbledore looked extremely interested in.

"Ericson, Abygail," Professor McGonagall called out and Harry saw the girl with orange highlights in her blonde hair walked up to the hat. As she sat down, her necklace became visible and Harry heard Hermione take an excited breath for some reason. The hat barely touched her head when it yelled out, "GRYFFINDOR," and Dumbledore started clapping loudly and the Gryffindors joined in with some scattered cheering coming from the Weasley twins. Abygail walked down serenely from the stage and sat down with the other first years and turned to watch her sister get sorted.

"Ericson, Nicole," Professor McGonagall called for and Nicole bounced up to the stage in an excited rush. The hat also barely touched her head when it called out "GRYFFINDOR," and she skipped to the applauding Gryffindors and sat next to her sister with a huge smile. The sorting moved quickly and Harry was happy to see that a miniature version of Daphne, that could only be Astoria Greengrass, was sorted into Slytherin and she sat next to her sister. Daphne noticed Harry watching Astoria sit down and nodded her head almost imperceptibly. Harry nodded back and watched the rest of the sorting.

When Vane, Romilda was called up and sorted into Gryffindor, Professor McGonagall picked up the stool with the hat and moved them off to an antechamber as Professor Dumbledore walked up to his podium.

"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts, and for those who are brand new welcome, an exciting year of magical learning is ahead," Dumbledore said with a smile that made Harry feel much more relaxed than he had been all night. The old headmaster always gave off that air of calm, yet great energy. "I have a few things to mention to you all before we become befuddled by the excellent feast prepared for you."

Dumbledore cleared his throat and continued, "As you are all no doubt aware of now, Hogwarts this year will play host to some of the dementors of Azkaban who are here on official Ministry of Magic business."

Harry noticed that Dumbledore did not seem particularly pleased about the dementors and Harry assumed it was because of their effect on the students.

"They will be stationed around the perimeter of the grounds, and while they are here I must implore you all not to wander off the school grounds. It is not in the nature of a dementor to discriminate from the innocent and the guilty, they do not understand pleading or excuses," Dumbledore said gravely. "Dementors can see through all forms of disguises, Invisibility Cloaks, and tricks. So I look to our prefects and new Head Boy and Girl to make sure no one runs afoul of them," Dumbledore said.

Harry noticed that Percy looked even more pompous than usual at the responsibility Dumbledore was adding to his position and Ginny just groaned a bit at her brother's actions.

"On a happier note," Dumbledore continued, "I'm pleased to welcome three new teachers to our ranks this year."

"First, Professor Lupin, who has kindly taken the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, good luck professor," Dumbledore said with a chuckle.

There was a smattering of applause for Professor Lupin as he stood up to acknowledge, with those that had been in his compartment clapping loudest of all.

"Secondly, I unfortunately have to announce that Professor Kettleburn has decided to retire in order to spend more time with his remaining limbs. However, I am very happy to say that his position of Care of Magical Creatures teacher will be taken by our own gameskeeper, Rubeus Hagrid."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other stunned while Ginny squeaked a bit in surprise. The whole of Gryffindor erupted into thunderous applause and Harry could see Hagrid was bright red and trying to hide behind his beard.

"We should have known," Ron yelled over the sounds of the cheering. "Who else would have assigned us a biting book?"

As Harry, Ron and Hermone stopped clapping Dumbledore started to speak again.

"Thirdly, starting this year I'm pleased to say that Hogwarts will be teaching a new class on dueling that will compliment Defense Against the Dark Arts and that this year the new classes will be headed by an old friend of mine from America, Professor Ryan Kemper," Dumbledore said gesturing towards the man with gray hair and goatee and steel blue eyes.

Professor Kemper did not get to his feet but merely acknowledged the polite applause with a raise of his hand and a nod.

"Well I believe that is everything of importance," Dumbledore said with a nod to himself. "Let the feast begin!"

The gold plates and goblets suddenly filled with food and drink, which Ron attacked with gusto, grabbing everything within arm's reach. Harry shook his head at his friend's table manners, helped himself to some chicken, and started to talk with Ginny and Hermione about what to expect on the first day of classes.

"I think that Professor Kemper is going to be a very tough teacher," Hermione said looking towards the staff table where Professor Kemper and Lupin were talking quietly.

"He can't be any tougher than Professor McGonagall or Snape," Harry said.

"It's going to be interesting regardless," Ginny said almost leaning into Harry's side. "Being from America, he is probably going to have a very interesting perspective on magic."

Hermione nodded and glanced over at Abygail and Nicole who were chatting with those around them. "That Abygail girl's necklace is one of the Zodiac charms," she said in a whisper to Harry and Ginny.

"You sure Hermione?" Harry asked.

"Positive, it has the Leo sign on the gem," Hermione said excitedly.

"Hermione what if it's just a necklace that has her birth sign on it," Ginny asked playing devil's advocate.

"I mean that is possible, probably likely," Hermione sighed.

"I know you want those charms to be real Hermione, but they probably aren't," Harry said being reasonable and hoping the feast would end soon so he could congratulate Hagrid.

"You could always ask her Hermione," Ginny said laughing a bit.

"Now there's a thought, maybe I'll do that after she settles into classes," Hermione said.

The rest of the feast was delicious and of course the company great for Harry, especially since Ginny kept brushing up against him and he kept getting a small thrill every time she did. Harry had no clue what it could mean, but he was determined to find out why this year.

Finally, the last vestiges of food and drink disappeared and Dumbledore gave the word that they were able to head to bed. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny moved towards Hagrid.

"Congrats Hagrid," Hermione squealed as they reached his position at the staff table.

"All down ter you three," Hagrid said wiping his eyes of the tears of joy in them. "Dumbledore came down to me hut at der beginning o' summer and offered me the job after Kettleburn said he had had enough….It's what I've always wanted."

Hagrid started crying again and pulled out his large tablecloth sized handkerchief, while Professor McGonagall came over and shooed them away. The four of them moved off to join the rest of their house as they streamed out of the Great Hall.

"I think it's great Hagrid is finally a professor," Ginny said with a smile while walking next to Harry.

"Yeah, I'm happy that he finally gets the chance to teach about his favorite subject," Harry said also with a smile and unconsciously brushing his hand against Ginny's.

Reaching the portrait of the Fat Lady, Percy bustled up from the back of the crowd with the first years. "Make way, make way, the new password is Fortuna Major."

"Oh, that's actually sort of easy to remember," Neville said as he appeared out of the crowd near Ron.

The portrait swung open and the Gryffindors moved into their common room, happy to be back in their familiar tower. Harry said good night to Hermione, and was about to say the same to Ginny when she hugged him tightly, which he returned easily now.

"Good night Ginny, see you in the morning," said Harry with a smile.

"Of course, Harry," Ginny said smiling back and moving off to the girls' dormitories.

Harry climbed up the stairs with Ron and Neville to their dorm room, seeing Dean and Seamus already lying in their beds, completely out. Not bothering to speak to each other out of tiredness, the boys changed and collapsed in their beds. Harry lay there for a few moments thinking about how the year was going to be far different than any before. As Harry drifted off to sleep, his dreams were haunted by a certain red head girl.

**The Next Day**

Entering the Great Hall for breakfast the next day, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny noticed first thing that Malfoy was entertaining his cronies with impressions of Harry fainting to the dementors.

"Just ignore them Harry," Hermione said with her nose held high.

Noticing the four Gryffindors, Malfoy smirked and swooned again while Pansy Parkinson called out, "ooooooo the dementors are coming Potter ooooo."

The Slytherins broke out into laughter and Harry shuffled to the Gryffindor table and sat down near Fred and George.

"New schedules for you lot," George said handing Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny their schedules. "What's got you looking like your Kneazle got kicked, Harry?"

"Malfoy," Ron grumbled out looking unhappy towards the Slytherins.

Fred and George glanced over at the Slytherins just in time to see Malfoy pretend to faint again.

"Little git wasn't too brave last night, was he dear brother of mine?" Fred said with a smirk.

"Oh yes brother, git looked about ready to wet himself when the dementors moved down our part of the train," George answered back. "Terrible creatures though, don't blame you for passing out Harry."

"Sort of freeze up your insides and just ruin a perfect pranking mood eh," Fred said with a dramatic sigh.

"Neither of you passed out though," Harry said with a sigh and Ginny reached over and squeezed his hand discreetly.

"Nope, but Dad looked like he was about to one night when he had to go out to Azkaban and came home all pale," George said. "They cause a lot of the prisoners to go mad from the doom and gloom."

"But far more importantly, we will see how Malfoy feels when we crush him at Quidditch," Fred said smirking hugely.

"Betcha Oliver didn't sleep over the summer, planning for the next season," George said to his brother while Harry chuckled at that.

Feeling a bit better from Fred and George's antics and Ginny's discreet support, Harry helped himself to some eggs and sausage. Ron was eating anything in reach, causing several of the nearby students to be careful in fear of losing limbs, while Hermione was reading over the new schedule.

"Oh good, we start some new classes today including the Dueling class," Hermione said cheerfully.

"Um Hermione, your schedule doesn't make sense," Ron said after swallowing and glancing at Hermione's schedule. "They've got you down for like ten classes a day, no one is that good even you Hermione."

"Oh pish posh Ron, I've got it all worked out with Professor McGonagall," Hermione said waving her hand.

"But look at even this morning, Divination at 9, underneath Muggle Studies at 9, and..," Ron looked flabbergasted, "Arithmancy at 9 too, Hermione there isn't enough time in the day. How are you supposed to be in three classes at once?"

"Don't be silly Ronald," Hermione said with a small laugh. "Of course I won't be in three classes at once."

"But—,"

"Pass the marmalade Ginny," Hermione asked Ginny who shared a quick look with Harry.

"Hermione—,"

"Ron so what if my schedule is a bit full, like I said I have everything worked out," Hermione said ending the conversation.

Harry and Ginny just looked at each clearly thinking the same thing that maybe Hermione wasn't telling them everything when Hagrid walked in swinging a dead polecat.

"All righ'?" he said with a huge grin as he passed the four. "Yer in me firs' lesson, been up all mornin' getting' things ready," Hagrid said cheerfully. "Me a teacher honestly," and he just kept strolling on to the staff table.

"Why do I get the feeling Hagrid found some new dangerous creature," Harry said with a sigh and small smile.

"I do believe Mr. Potter your words are prophetic," Ginny said laughing and Harry joined in while Ron and Hermione looked at them strangely.

"You two are crazy," Ron said shaking his head. "Come on we got Divination soon."

Giving Ginny a quick good-bye hug which caused Ginny to smile happily, Harry followed Ron and Hermione out of the Great Hall to try and find the North Tower. After a long walk and following the crazy portrait of Sir Cadogan, the three of them had found the Divination landing.

Looking up at the trapdoor above them Ron said, "how are we supposed to get up there?" In answer to his question, the trapdoor opened of its own accord and a small ladder unfolded. Climbing up the three found themselves in a stiflingly hot room that looked like it was out of some tea shop or gypsy caravan. As the rest of the class joined them, Harry, Ron and Hermione sat down at one table.

"Where is Professor Trelawney?" Harry asked looking around.

A voice drifted out of the shadows, causing the students to jump and whip around trying to find its source.

"Welcome children, it is good to see you all in the physical plane," a light mystical voice floated from every direction. Professor Trelawney then faded out of the shadows and Harry couldn't help but think she looked like some giant insect. Her glasses magnified her eyes to make them appear huge and all the shawls and jewelry she was wearing made her look like some dragonfly.

"Welcome to the art of Divination," Professor Trelawney said as she sat herself in a large winged chair in front of the roaring fire. "As some of you know, my name is Professor Trelawney and it is my task to show you the path to the Inner Sight for those who have the talent. Divination is the most difficult branch of magic, books and loud bangs have no bearing in possessing the Inner Eye."

Harry and Ron looked over at Hermione, who looked alarmed at the prospect that books could not help her in this class.

"For those who possess the Gift, we will penetrate the veil of mysteries that obscures the future," Professor Trelawney continued looking around at each student. Stopping at Neville, she said, "you boy, is your grandmother well?"

Neville could only blink and stutter out an answer that last he checked his grandmother was fine, to which Professor Trelawney just tutted and shook her head sadly.

"The first few weeks we will study the most basic form of Divination, reading portents in tea leaves, then move on to palmistry and you dear beware a red haired man," Professor Trelawney said adding the last bit towards Parvati Patil who glanced at Ron and tried to move further away.

"Next term we will begin crystal gazing, but we will be disturbed by an outbreak of the flu in February, I shall lose my voice, and near Easter we shall lose one of you forever," Professor Trelawney said.

"Now we shall pass out some cups, you shall pair off and you will try and read your partner's cup with help from **Unfogging the Future**, oh and use the blue cups please I'm rather partial to the pink ones dear," Professor Trelawney said, the last part at Neville.

Surprisingly, Neville didn't break his cup and Harry couldn't help but wonder if Professor Trelawney wasn't all seeing. Getting their cups, Harry, Ron and Hermione filled them to the brim, went back to their table and drank the scalding hot tea quickly, leaving the tea leaves behind in a soggy mess.

Swapping cups Harry and Ron took their books out, while Hermione partnered up with Neville.

"Well now what?" Ron said. "All I see is a big soggy, brown mess, what do you see?"

"The same," Harry said trying to stay awake in the heavily perfumed and hot air of the classroom.

"Broaden your minds dears," Professor Trelawney cried out to the class.

Pulling himself together, Harry opened his copy of **Unfogging the Future**, and flipped to the part on tea leaves. "Well the book says you have some crooked cross that means trials and suffering…wait sorry maybe there's a sun here and that means happiness so you'll be suffering but happy?" Harry said.

"I think you need your Inner Eye checked out mate," Ron said laughing, and Harry joined him while saying, "If you're so sure of how to do it read mine then."

"Alright Harry," Ron said with a guffaw, "let's see looks like there is a blob kind of like a bowler hat, maybe you'll work for the Ministry of Magic. Then again, if I turn it this way it looks like an acorn and the book says that's an unexpected windfall. Great you can lend me some."

"Sure Ron, like I want any more money," Harry said with a chuckle. "Anything else, oh master of the tea portents?"

"Git," Ron said with a chuckle also while peering at the cup, "looks like some sort of animal maybe a hippo….no wait maybe a sheep, definitely something with four legs."

Hearing that, Professor Trelawney suddenly appeared at their table and snatched the cup out of Ron's hands. She looked at it for a second then blanched and dropped it.

"My dear, oh no perhaps it is kinder not to say…yes it would be kinder to spare you the pain and despair of having this knowledge," Professor Trelawney said with an extremely sad look at Harry.

"What's wrong Professor?" Harry asked totally lost.

"Oh my boy, you have the Grim, the worst death omen of all," Professor Trelawney said and that got the rest of the class who had grown up in the Wizarding world scared.

"It only haunts the footsteps of those doomed to die in a most horrifying way, and you are marked boy beware of any enemies you have," Professor Trelawney said while Harry wondered who she was trying to kid.

"Well of course Harry is marked," Hermione said with a snort and giving voice to Harry's thoughts. "You-Know-Who has tried to kill him, we all know that history and to me that looks just like some pile of leaves."

"My dear, ever since you walked into this classroom I could see you have very little aura for the Sight," Professor Trelawney sniffed at Hermione, who looked chagrined by the professor's snub at her.

"Looks like a Grim if you look at it this way, but if you crane your neck looks like a donkey or mule," Seamus Finnegan said leaning over from his and Dean's table to get a look at the cup.

"Well if you are all done trying to determine if I'm going to die here or not, class is about to be over," Harry said surprising everyone, even himself, with his nonchalant tone.

"Yes you are quite right dear…yes you may all pack up your things class dismissed," Professor Trelawney said as she went to sit in her chair.

Packing up, the class climbed down the ladder and headed towards Transfiguration in complete silence, with an occasional glance at Harry. Harry found it rather annoying as everyone seemed to think he was about to die at any second. Arriving at Transfiguration, the class found a new distraction in the form of Abygail Ericson sitting near the front of the room.

"Um Professor McGonagall isn't Abygail a first year?" Hermione asked as she, Harry and Ron found seats.

"While she was sorted with the first years, Ms. Ericson will be taking classes with the third year," Professor McGonagall answered while looking at the exceptionally quiet class. "What has happened to you all, normally you are all talking loudly as you get seated?"

"We just came from our first Divination lesson this year and…," Lavender Brown started to say and Professor McGonagall interrupted her with a raised hand.

"Say no more Ms. Brown, so tell me which one of you did Sibyll predict will die this yea?" Professor McGonagall sniffed.

"Me, professor," Harry said.

"I see, well I think it best to explain that ever since she has come here thirteen years ago, Sibyll Trelawney has predicted the death of one student in her third year class each year and you'll be happy to know Mr. Potter not one has died," Professor McGonagall said.

"While I have never been known to have great patience for the art of Divination and I shall never speak ill of a colleague," Professor McGonagall said while everyone clearly heard Abygail snort at her words, "the practice of Divination is very inexact and vague and not all Seers see all the time. Ms. Ericson did you find something amusing in that?"

"No professor, I agree with you about the challenges one can have for Divination, even if I don't feel like studying it and would rather learn something a bit more…solid," Abygail said while fighting to hide a smirk.

"Be that as it may Ms. Ericson please refrain from belittling subjects in the future, oh and Mr. Potter if Professor Trelawney is correct you will have no need to turn in your work for today's lesson," Professor McGonagall said with an ever so faint smile.

Hermione laughed a little and Harry felt the tiny bit of worry he had from Divination vanish knowing Professor McGonagall wasn't worried in the slightest. Others in the class still looked worried at Harry including Ron, but he was totally focused on Professor McGonagall and her lesson.

When Transfiguration ended, they all joined the throng of people heading for the Great Hall for lunch.

Hermione pushed a bowl of stew and some bread towards Ron and said, "Cheer up Ron, it's just some silly leaves in a cup."

Ron ladled up some stew but didn't start eating and turned to Harry and whispered, "Harry, you haven't seen a big dog any time right?"

"No, only time I heard a dog was someone walking theirs when I ran away from Privet Drive," Harry said not bothering to mention Mr. Padfoot to Ron or Hermione as he didn't feel it was important.

Ron looked relieved to hear Harry say that and attacked his stew with new found gusto, while Hermione just shrugged and went back to her sandwich. Harry started to eat his own sandwich when Ginny plopped down in the seat next to his, looking exhausted.

"What's up with you Ginny?" Harry asked. "You look dead on your feet."

"I just got back from Professor Kemper's class and just wow," Ginny said as she took half of Ron's roll and started to nibble on it.

"Ooooo what was it like?" Hermione asked excitedly while Ron shot Ginny a quick glare for being so close to Harry and taking his food.

"I can only describe it as the best class I've ever had, he really knows what he is talking about, but he is tough and worked us hard," Ginny said as she laid her head on Harry's shoulder and Harry let her.

"So he's a good professor then?" Hermione pressed while also giving Ginny a look that Harry missed that said she knew what Ginny was doing.

"Incredibly wait until you guys have him," Ginny said shooting Hermione a conspiratorial look that Ron didn't miss.

"Ginny get off Harry now," Ron said irritably.

"It's fine Ron, if Ginny needs a shoulder to rest on for a bit I'm perfectly willing to oblige," Harry said with a laugh and Ginny smiled to herself, knowing that little by little Harry was starting to fall for her. She just had to wait a little while longer.

"It's not fine Harry, it looks like she is all over you and it's getting annoying that she keeps joining us," Ron said angrily.

"Ron, Ginny is a good friend now, if you can't accept that deal with it," Harry said reasonably. Ron just glared at both Ginny and Harry and stalked off.

"What is up with him, first Daphne and Neville now Ginny, is Ron trying to monopolize my time?" Harry asked Ginny and Hermione.

"He doesn't want to lose your friendship Harry, and he is scared that could happen if you make more friends," Hermione said looking at her watch. "Come on we have Care of Magical Creatures soon, we will see you later Ginny."

Harry gave Ginny a one armed hug, got up and followed Hermione out of the Great Hall, but before he walked out he looked back at Ginny, who was smiling and he couldn't help but feel happy that he put that smile on her face.

Harry and Hermione chatted as they walked down towards Hagrid's hut where the rest of their class was gathering when Hermione said something that made Harry stop.

"And of course I'm really looking forward to my next Arithmancy class, Professor Vector really knows how to teach complex math to be used in magic," Hermione said smiling.

"Um Hermione, when were you in Arithmancy you were with us in Divination?" Harry asked his curiosity piqued.

"Oh well I meant to say I'm looking forward to Professor Vector's class when I do go to it, the book we were assigned for the class just says she knows what she is doing," Hermione said evasively.

"Hermione, what aren't you telling us?" Harry tried to press her but before he could really try and get her to talk they were amongst the rest of their class and he lost his chance. Ron still looked grumpy but he scooted over to them while the Gryffindors waited for who they were having class with and muttered an apology to Harry.

"Sorry Harry, I sort of lost it there, won't happen again," Ron muttered his head bowed a bit.

"It's okay Ron, just make sure you don't do it again," Harry said with a laugh. Harry looked around and noticed to his horror that students with green trim were walking towards them.

"Great we have Care of Magical Creatures with the Slytherins and Potions, this year is getting better and better," Harry sighed and Ron stiffened.

"They can't all be bad, Harry" Abygail said walking over to them. "I feel I should introduce myself, Abygail Ericson at your service you've already met my annoying little sister at Diagon Alley."

"She certainly is bubbly I'll give her that," Harry said with a laugh. "It's a pleasure to meet you, and this is Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger my best friends."

"Hello to you too, although I already met Hermione in Arithmancy," Abygail said with a smile that Harry felt could charm anyone. Harry glanced over at Ron and noticed he was staring slack-jawed at Abygail and that several other Gryffindor boys were as well. Hermione kicked Ron out of it and the others shook it off quickly.

"As I was saying though, not all Slytherins can be bad, you made a friend in the house after all," Abygail whispered the last bit so no one else could hear.

Before Harry could answer, Ron interrupted and said, "all Slytherins are alike, nasty bigots who try and put down Muggleborns and belittle the rest of us."

"Really, well I'll just have to see for myself," Abygail said giving Ron a look that Harry interpreted as she found his irrational hate of Slytherins amusing.

Noticing Hagrid still wasn't there and the Slytherins hadn't joined the group yet, Hermione whispered to Abygail, "that's a beautiful necklace you have there what is it?"

"Oh this old thing, just something I found while exploring with Professor Kemper," Abygail said smiling at Hermione, but her eyes told a different story.

Before Hermione could ask more about it, Hagrid arrived and the Slytherins had joined the throng of Gryffindors, and Harry was happy to note that Daphne was among them.

"All righ' got a real treat for you all, a great firs' lesson, follow me," Hagrid said as he set off with Fang the boarhound following behind him. The students noticed they were going into the edge of the Forbidden Forest and Harry was a bit worried they were actually going deeper into the forest, but the students followed Hagrid to a small paddock that was empty.

"Gather roun' the fence, open your books to page 34 and I'll be righ' back," Hagrid said as he moved off.

"How do we open them," Malfoy drawled out and Hagrid looked back with an amused look and said, "Just stroke the spine of course."

Harry pulled out his **Monster Book of Monsters**, stroked the spine and the book became docile and he laughed a bit while the other students did the same.

"Oh yes Potter, these books are so witty, can bite your hand off, God this place is going to the dogs having that great oaf teach now," Malfoy said nastily.

"Well Malfoy, if you had known about enchanted biting books, maybe you wouldn't be so upset," Abygail said before Harry could respond.

"Like you knew about these beforehand," Malfoy said not sure how to respond to this new Gryffindor.

"Well as a matter of fact yes I did please note how my book did not a belt or rope around it," Abygail said smiling at Malfoy which just seemed to enrage him more.

"Watch yourself Mudblood, don't try and act superior to your betters, my father will see to that" Malfoy sneered at her.

"If you're going to insult me at least get the insult right, I'm a pureblood so I would be what you would call a blood traitor number one, number two I'll consider you my better when you've done something to actually prove you are and not hiding behind your father's skirt," Abygail said still with that maddening grin.

Malfoy just huffed and walked back over to Theodore Nott, Blaise Zabini, and his usual cronies while Daphne and Tracey Davis looked at Abygail something akin to awe at how well she had dispatched Malfoy. Ron and the other Gryffindors were also looking with awe at Abygail, while Hermione looked amused and pleased that she didn't devolve to using insults back at Malfoy.

Before anyone else could comment on the scene Hagrid arrived with twelve of the most bizarre and beautifully dangerous creatures and to Harry they looked like a cross between a horse and a bird of prey like an eagle.

"Hagrid, what are those?" Hermione asked.

"Hippogriffs," Hagrid roared happily as he led the creatures into the paddock. "Very smart creatures, hippogriffs, very proud though you do not want to cross one as it may be the last thing you ever do."

Harry looked nervously over at Malfoy, who looked like he was plotting something that would disrupt the lesson and embarrass Hagrid.

"Firs' thing you should know about approaching hippogriffs, is always let them make the firs' move," Hagrid continued, clearly in his element. "It's polite see, to walk up and bow, and if they bow back great, if not well we will get to that part later, so any volunteers to try firs'?"

Everyone backed up quickly leaving Harry and Abygail by themselves, and Hagrid smiled and said, "well done Harry and er Ms. Ericson righ'?"

"Yes professor, but please call me Abygail," she said promptly.

"Righ' then, which of you would like to go firs'?" Hagrid said and Harry could clearly see he wanted Harry to volunteer.

"I will," Harry said stepping in the paddock, while he could hear mutterings from some of the Gryffindors about his cup from Divination.

"Well done Harry, five points ter Gryffindor," Hagrid said happily. "Now let's get you hear with me favorite, Buckbeak."

Hagrid untied the gray hippogriff and brought him nearby to Harry, and the class as a whole took a sharp breath as Buckbeak looked severe.

"Easy now Harry, easy," Hagrid said quietly. "Yeh've got to make and maintain eye contact as yeh bow, hippogriffs don't trust yeh if yeh blink too much."

Harry could feel his eyes starting to water already as he bowed slowly and tried to keep constant eye contact with Buckbeak's vivid orange eyes. Buckbeak regarded him for a time and just when Harry was getting more nervous than he was and Hagrid started to tell Harry to back away slowly, Buckbeak bowed his head.

"Well done Harry, another five points ter Gryffindor, now I reckon he will let yeh pet him," Hagrid boomed out happily.

Harry was rather nervous but did as Hagrid said and patted Buckbeak lightly, and Buckbeak closed his eyes lazily, clearly enjoying it. The class applauded Harry, while most of the Slytherins looked disappointed minus Daphne and Tracey who looked happy Harry hadn't been maimed or anything.

"I think he let yeh ride him now Harry," Hagrid said happily. Harry turned and looked alarmed but before he could do anything, Hagrid placed him on Buckbeak, slapped the hippogriff's rear and he was in the air. Harry immediately knew he preferred his Nimbus 2000 but there was something to be said about flying on a hippogriff that was exhilarating. He put it down to the fact the wings added something to the experience even if they make it awkward to hold on.

Buckbeak flew a few times around the paddock before coming into land next to Hagrid and the class erupted in applause again as Harry slid off Buckbeak's back.

"How am I doin on me firs' day," Hagrid muttered to Harry so no one else could hear him.

"It's going brilliantly professor," Harry said with a big grin on his face that Hagrid matched.

"All righ't you lot who else wants a go?" Hagrid called out to the rest of the class.

Emboldened by Harry's time with Buckbeak, the rest of class went into the paddock and Hagrid untied the other hippogriffs. Neville nervously approached a mahogany colored one and bowed and the hippogriff eventually bowed. Ron and Hermione were taking turns on a chestnut colored one, Daphne and Tracey were taking turns bowing in front of an albino one, and Abygail was happily on the back of a black hippogriff, while Harry watched and gave his classmates some pointers.

Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle had taken over Buckbeak. He had bowed to Malfoy, who was patting the hippogriff on the beak, looking disdainful.

"This is easy," Malfoy drawled out so those nearby him clearly heard him. "I knew it had to be when Potter was able to do it…I bet you aren't dangerous at all are you you great ugly brute." The only warning anyone had for what was going to happen was Buckbeak whipped his talon up to slash Malfoy, but before the blow landed, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were flying backwards and landed in a heap in front of Abygail.

Abygail put her wand away, but no one heard her utter the spell that she used to pull the three Slytherins to her, while Hagrid wrestled the enraged Buckbeak back into his collar and tied him up.

"Oops, sorry Malfoy, I just bare to see a fellow student get injured like that, lucky I did or who knows what could have happened," Abygail said smiling at Malfoy who was spluttering up at her. "Be more careful next time," she said as she walked off whistling.

Harry and the other Gryffindors couldn't stop laughing while Malfoy scrambled to his feet, muttering his father would hear about this. Hagrid then picked up Crabbe and Goyle from the ground and bellowed out for the rest of the class to hear, "yeh three have detention wit me tomorrow, cleain' out ter Kneazle pens."

"But that's servants work," Malfoy spluttered out while the rest of the class roared with laughter at his misfortune.

"Then maybe yeh should listen ter me when I'm explain' how to handle creatures," Hagrid said to Malfoy. "Class dismissed," he called out to the rest of the class.

"That was amazing Abygail," Hermione said as they all moved back up to the castle, "how did you do that?"

"Simple Hermione, just used a Summoning Charm," Abygail said with a smile, "oh and some sarcasm and a little touch of intimidation which should wear off by tomorrow."

"You know Summoning Charms? How we don't learn those until fourth year?" Hermione asked quickly.

"My sister and I travel with Professor Kemper and he taught us a lot of things, many of which you guys will learn next class," Abygail said serenely as she walked towards the castle.

"That girl is something else," Ron said as he watched her walk.

"She definitely knows a lot and she's not someone to be ogled at Ronald," Hermione snapped at Ron while Harry chuckled as the two started bickering. Moving into the castle, they proceeded to the third floor trying to find Professor Kemper's class. The three of them had been slowed down by the bickering so they were going to be the last there, and as they reached the right classroom three beams of red light flashed out of nowhere.

Ron and Hermione both got hit as they weren't paying attention and were knocked out mid-argument, but because of his Seeker reflexes, Harry dropped himself to the ground and avoided the red beam by the skin of his teeth.

"Nice reflexes, Potter, they will have a hard time hitting you," a gruff voice said. Two more beams of light hit Ron and Hermione and they woke up, and Professor Kemper walked over to them.

"You two pay attention to your surroundings that goes for almost all of you" Professor Kemper said as he helped Ron and Hermione up, and then walked back to the front of the room. "Only three students in the third year were aware enough to avoid my Stunning Spell, Ms. Greengrass, Ms. Ericson, and Mr. Potter, which is rather dismal. The second years had several students more aware of their surroundings then that and I will not stand for it."

Professor Kemper sat down at the edge of his desk and looked at the assembled third years. Harry, Ron and Hermione quickly found seats near Abygail and Neville as Professor Kemper started to speak again.

"Welcome to Dueling Class, as you all know I'm Professor Ryan Kemper. This year we will be studying many variations of combat and spells that are detailed in the book you all should have bought and read over the summer," Professor Kemper said.

Ron then raised his hand while others in the third years muttered to themselves.

"Yes Mr. Weasley?" Professor Kemper said.

"Two questions Professor, one why did you attack us at the door and two why were we supposed to read the book aren't we supposed to go over the book in class?" Ron asked.

Harry heard Abygail snigger at that comment while Professor Kemper got up and walked to Ron's desk slowly. Harry watched as Ron started to squirm as Professor Kemper stopped right in front of him and answered.

"To answer your first question Mr. Weasley, I attacked each student as they walked in to see if any student here was at least aware of their surroundings as I said, and two I would hope students actually read their books before coming to school as it helps make classes so much easier to teach. I take it you never even cracked the spine yet?"

"Uh no professor, I didn't read any of my books over the summer," Ron said, his ears getting red from embarrassment.

"Mr. Weasley, may you please make your way to front of the classroom for a demonstration?" Professor Kemper said quietly. Several of the Slytherin third years started laughing and they clearly heard Malfoy say, "serves Weasel right."

"Mr. Malfoy, please join Mr. Weasley up front," Professor Kemper said and Abygail sniggered again.

Ron and Malfoy got up from their desks and stood in the front of the class while Professor Kemper stood behind his desk.

"Now I want you two to duel, use any spell in your arsenal, I have placed barriers around the classroom that prevents serious injury, but I doubt they will be necessary," Professor Kemper said. "Begin."

Ron and Malfoy started throwing Flipendo Jinxes at each other and other small time jinxes, and Harry, who had read the book front to back, couldn't help but notice how terrible their stances were and how overpowered their jinxes were. Ron and Malfoy were quickly getting tired and started to resort to other jinxes to try and finish off their opponent with Malfoy throwing a Petrificus Totalus at Ron who got hit and went down hard.

"Enough Mr. Malfoy won and do you know why Mr. Weasley, he was willing to win at any cost and threw the first spell other than a Knockback Jinx," Proefssor Kemper explained while Malfoy looked down at Ron with a superior sneer.

"Oh and Mr. Malfoy, your form is terrible and if your opponent had been say Mr. Potter you would have lost quickly," Professor Kemper said with a small smirk.

"I'd like to see him try professor," Malfoy said smirking.

"If you insist Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Potter if you would please," Professor Kemper said.

Harry got up and moved his way to where Ron had started his duel and drew his wand and faced off against Malfoy. Harry was aware that a lot of the third years were watching interestedly, especially Abygail for some reason.

"Hope you're ready to lose like your pathetic friend Weasley, Potter," Malfoy smugly said.

"Don't be so sure Malfoy," Harry said calmly as Professor Kemper called out, "Begin."

Malfoy threw a few quick Flipendos then a Petrificus Totalus at Harry, who dodged each spell. Harry cried out "LUMOS," and the light spell blinded Malfoy for a second and that was all Harry needed to hit Malfoy with a Disarming Charm and take his wand.

"Nicely done Mr. Potter, you may resume your seat and the rest of you please begin taking notes," Professor Kemper said.

The rest of the class was spent examining the two duels and the spells used, and while it was enjoyable to Harry, he noticed that Professor Kemper looked bored and disappointed by having to teach this way. He also noticed Abygail was lazily taking notes and had the same bored expression as the professor and he realized this was not the class that had Ginny exhausted.

_'He must have been harder on the second years because he felt they were ready for it, and that we aren't_,' Harry thought to himself as he started to pack up when Professor Kemper dismissed them.

"For next class please have the chapters one to three read, so we can actually start learning interesting things," Professor Kemper said with a sigh and he walked over to his desk, sat down in his seat.

"I'll meet you guys at dinner, I just want to have a quick word with the professor," Harrys aid to Ron and Hermione who shrugged and left. Harry walked over to where Professor Kemper was sitting with his eyes closed.

"You have nothing to apologize for Mr. Potter," Professor Kemper said without opening his eyes. "Your classmates haven't yet learned that knowing as much as they can is essential."

"What do you mean professor?" Harry asked, curious why Professor Kemper thought they needed to prepare.

"A storm is approaching Harry Potter, Sirius Black escaping was the first sign that forces are in motion to change this world we live in forever," Professor Kemper said, opening his eyes and looking at Harry, who suddenly felt like he was being examined.

"Interesting, but how could that be possible without a ritual performed, hmmm perhaps," Professor Kemper mumbled to himself as Harry fidgeted for a moment under his gaze. "My apologies, Mr. Potter I got caught in a train of thought, you best be getting off to dinner and please make sure your friend Weasley actually reads the book, I would rather not have to make an example of him two lessons in a row."

"Of course professor, Hermione and I should keep him on track," Harry said while wondering what he had been mumbling about. As Harry walked out of the classroom, Ryan Kemper frowned and immediately got up and went to find Dumbledore.

_'A Horcrux in his scar would explain so much, but it's not a properly formed Horcrux, almost like a shard of Voldemort's soul. That would mean his soul was unstable enough that the Killing Curse broke off a piece and it latched onto Potter. We will have to do something about that because that dark miasma hanging around the scar worries me.'_

The rest of the week flew by and before Harry knew it, it was Thursday and the first double Potions lesson of the year was upon the Gryffindors and Slytherins. A sighting of Sirius Black near Hogsmeade had caused the castle to be bustling with rumors about if he really had been there or not. Malfoy had steadily been getting more and more annoyed with Abygail as she repeatedly was turning any insults or comments thrown at her right back around and Harry knew that Potions was going to be where Malfoy would strike back for the humiliation.

As they filed into the dungeon and set up their cauldrons and equipment, Harry was surprised not to see Snape lurking in front of the class, and as if his thoughts had summoned him, Snape swept into the room, looking like a giant black bat as always. Snape though looked a bit perturbed, and when he passed Harry could have sworn that he had glanced at Harry with a worried look in eyes.

But, when he turned to face the class, his usual sneer was in place and when he spoke it was in the same tone he always did.

"Today you all will be brewing a Shrinking Solution, the instructions are on the board (Snape flicked his wand and they appeared), the ingredients are in the supply cupboard (another flick of the wand) you have the entire period to complete it and I don't want the slop I'm use to receiving from you.

The class sprang into action, grabbing ingredients and lighting fires. Harry and Ron were unfortunately nearby Malfoy and Zabini and the occasional snide comment would float towards them from Malfoy. Ron kept doing small mistakes because he was focusing too much on what Malfoy was saying, while Harry was tuning him out and focusing completely on his potion.

Halfway through the lesson, Abygail had to get up and gather some more ingredients and Harry saw Malfoy throw something towards her cauldron that looked suspiciously like a firecracker, but before it hit the cauldron, the firecracker bounced off some force and landed right in front of Snape and it went off throwing large sparks everywhere.

"Who threw that, and I hope you enjoyed your last free evening for a month," Snape hissed out into dead silence.

"It was Abygail who threw it professor," Malfoy said with a smirk at her. "I saw it myself."

"Strange then because it bounced off my Shield Charm, and the trajectory says it came from your table Draco," Abygail said matter of factly.

Snape did something strange then, instead of going after Abygail like everyone expected; he sighed and looked at Malfoy in the eye.

"Mr. Malfoy, do not throw things into other's cauldrons from now on or I'll be forced to give you detention," Snape said after a moment.

Malfoy looked enraged at Abygail, who just shrugged and went back to work while the rest of the class sat in silence for a moment at the incredible scene that had just happened. Harry, Ron and Hermione just looked at each other wondering why Snape had done nothing, but shrugging they went back to work as well.

Apparantly though, Malfoy wasn't done trying to antagonize a Gryffindor and had decided to focus on Harry.

"So Potter, you thinking about going after Black," Malfoy muttered to them as they worked on the last portion of the Shrinking Solution.

"No, why would I want to?" Harry replied adding a few drops of leech juice to his potion, causing it to turn the bright acid green the book described.

"I suppose you wouldn't know would you Potter, I mean if it was me I'd be out there hunting him down for what he did," Malfoy said with a smug look.

"Look if you aren't going to explain Malfoy, I would recommend you focus on your potion, I don't think evergreen green is the right color," Harry said smirking back at Malfoy, who swore under his breath and tried to fix his potion.

Harry had just finished adding the last ingredient to his potion and was letting it simmer when Snape's voice cut through the dungeon.

"Orange, Longbottom, your potion is orange. Tell me boy does any sort of instruction get through that thick skull of yours or do I have to drill into your brain. A dash of leech juice perhaps you added more, or maybe you added part of another rat spleen. No matter if your potion is not corrected before class is almost over, your toad will suffer the consequences."

"Please professor, I can help Neville fix it," Hermione piped up in Neville's defense as he seemed to be trying to shrink away from Snape.

"Longbottom will correct it himself Ms. Granger and I would recommend you stop trying to appear like an insufferable know-it-all," Snape spat out at Hermione and moved off to look at Seamus and Dean's potions.

"Help me," Neville begged Hermione and she started to whisper instructions out of the corner of her mouth.

"A shame that, if he had a bit more confidence he would be great at Potions," Abygail said sadly looking at Neville. "Maybe you can help with that Harry being his friend would help a great deal."

"I think that's a great idea Abygail, and let me guess you suspected Malfoy would try something and warded your cauldron," Harry said with a smile while Ron looked confused.

Abygail laughed and said, "There may be hope for you yet Potter," and she walked back to her cauldron to stopper a flask for Snape's examination.

"What did she mean by that?" Ron asked Harry.

"No idea, but then she is weird that way," Harry said as he also stoppered a flask and took it up Snape's desk. Snape looked at the potion for a moment then looked Harry in the eye, and just like before, Harry got the sense that Snape was worried about him, but the next moment the look was gone, and Snape sneered at Harry and told him to move along.

As it turned out, Hermione had helped Neville fix his potion, but that only cost Gryffindor twenty points and Hermione was near tears as they made their way to lunch. Ron was seething as they made their way out of the dungeons, but when he went to vent towards Hermione she wasn't behind them.

"Hey where did Hermione go?" Ron said looking around.

"I don't know, wait there she is," Harry said as he pointed her out at the bottom of the staircase.

"How did you do that Hermione?" Ron asked as they made their way back to where she was.

"Do what?" Hermione said evasively.

"Oh come on Hermione you were right behind us," Harry said.

"I just had to go back for something sorry," Hermione said, but to Harry it still sounded evasive, but he noticed her bag was way too heavy and was starting to split from all the books.

"Hermione you do know we only have Defense Against the Dark Arts this afternoon," Harry said laughing a bit as she became flustered.

"Right I forgot, hope there is something good for lunch," Hermione said heading up the stairs while Harry and Ron followed

"Do you get the feeling that Hermione isn't telling us everything?" Harry whispered to Ron who just shrugged.

Professor Lupin wasn't in the classroom when they arrived at his classroom. Taking out their supplies, the class was chatting when Professor Lupin walked in with a secretive smile. Setting his briefcase on his desk, he turned to face the class.

"Good afternoon everyone, today I felt we would have a practical lesson, so if you wish to put your things way do so and follow me but please bring your wands," Professor Lupin said as the class gave worried looks but obliged.

Harry knew that everyone is thinking of the absolute disaster their only practical lesson last year under Professor Lockhart had been, and Harry was hoping that Professor Lupin's would be different. The class though was interested and followed the professor down the corridor towards the teacher's lounge when they encounter Peeves the Poltergeist shoving gum into a door's lock.

"I wouldn't be doing that Peeves, Filch won't be too pleased to find them gummed up," Professor Lupin said with a small smile.

"Can it be Loony, Loopy, Lupin is back," Peeves sang out and blew a raspberry at Lupin. The class held its breath wondering what the professor would do and they were collectively wondering why Peeves was acting this way towards a professor.

Professor Lupin just smiled, pointed his wand at the keyhole, and said clearly "_Waddiwasi,"_ and the gum shot out of the keyhole and up Peeves' nose. Peeves reeled back and swearing flew off, throwing rude hand gestures at the class.

"A rather useful spell you would say," Professor Lupin said with a sly look that Harry could have sworn he had seen on Ginny or the twins' faces a look of pure mischief. "Well shall we press on, almost there after all?"

The class was looking at their shabby professor with new found respect and followed him into the teacher's lounge where Snape was sitting. Noticing the class behind Lupin, Snape got up and hurried out of the door, but not before snidely saying, "I would be careful Lupin, your class contains Neville Longbottom and he has a penchant for being too thick to follow all but the simplest instructions unless Ms. Granger is hissing them in his ear."

"Really because I was hoping Neville would help me demonstrate to the class today's lesson," Professor Lupin said kindly while Snape huffed and walked out, slamming the door behind him.

"Now who can tell me what is in this wardrobe?" Professor Lupin asked the class walking over to a slightly shaking wardrobe.

"A boggart I would imagine," Hermione answered promptly.

"Correct Ms. Granger, take five point for Gryffindor, now who can tell me what a boggart is?" Professor Lupin asked.

"It's a shapeshifter, it takes on the form we fear the most," Daphne said, surprising the class because she hardly ever answered things in classes.

"Five points to Slytherin for a most accurate answer Ms. Greengrass," Professor Lupin said smiling. "Now who can tell me why we have an advantage over this boggart?"

"Because there are so many of us, the boggart won't know what to change into," Harry said and Professor Lupin smiled even wider.

"Very good Mr. Potter, another five points to Gryffindor," Professor Lupin said. "Now the charm to repel and destroy boggarts is rather simple but does require a strong force of mind behind it to get the desired effect. The incantation is _Riddikulus _and it will change the boggart into something that you find amusing as laughter truly finishes a boggart.

What followed was one of the most fun lessons the class ever had, starting with Neville's Snape turning into Snape with Neville's grandmother's clothes on, to Ron's spider being forced onto roller skates, to Parvati's mummy becoming unraveled, to Daphne's wedding contract getting shredded.

Soon it was almost Harry's turn, but Abygail was in front of him and as she stepped up to the boggart, its form shifted to that of an elderly gentleman with a cane and blonde, almost white hair. The boggart started to speak in a suave voice, "you shall ultimately fail Abygail, and there is nothing that will stop strife from spreading."

'_Riddikulus,'_ Abygail said clearly and there was a loud crack and the man was in a dress and his voice had disappeared and he turned his attention to Harry. For a split second, Harry saw a dementor, then Professor Lupin was in front of him and the boggart shifted to a glowing orb that he cried '_Riddikulus' _at and it deflated and flew around like a balloon until it ended up back in the wardrobe.

"Right I believe that is it for today, you are all free to go," Professor Lupin said as the class started talking excitedly about the boggart, while Abygail was silent and Harry was wondering why the professor stopped him from facing the boggart.

"That was the best DADA class I've ever had," Ron said excitedly to Harry and Hermione. "The way that spider couldn't stay on its legs absolutely hilarious."

"I wish I had been able to face the boggart, but oh well it was very informative," Hermione said smiling a bit. "Although I do wonder about Abygail's boggart what was that about?"

"No idea but she didn't look happy to see it, in fact she looked downright scary," Ron said with a slight tremble at the look on Abygail's face.

"Must be some enemy though," Hermione said pondering. "What do you think Harry?"

"I don't know Hermione, just one more mystery," Harry answered while still wondering why Lupin stopped him from facing the boggart.

"What would have yours been Hermione, a piece of homework with a nine out of ten," Ron said jokingly while Hermione bristled at that and they started to argue all the way to dinner.

Remus Lupin was pleased with how the first lessons had gone, especially with the third years. Apparently Ryan had given them a talking to because they had been relatively focused in class, though he couldn't help but notice the look of disappointment on Harry's face and the pure anger on Abygail's at her boggart. Shrugging he entered his office to find a letter sitting on his desk, and as he moved to open it he saw a paw print on it that he would recognize anywhere.

'_Why would Sirius send me a letter?' _Lupin thought as he slit the envelope open and pulled the letter out and began to read.

_Dear Moony,_

_ I know I have a lot of explaining to do and that I'm asking a lot for you to even consider reading this. The truth is I did not betray James and Lily, Peter did that because I got the bright idea to at the last minute switch the Secret Keepers around because we all knew I was a target. If you want the rest of the story and why I didn't tell you please come alone to the Shrieking Shack tonight. I'm taking an awful risk here but I need to see you old friend._

_ Always up to mischief,_

_ Padfoot_

_ 'Oh Sirius,' _Lupin thought with a sigh, '_I want to believe you so badly, but there were so many witnesses could they all be wrong.' _Making his decision, Lupin got up and walked out of his office and out of the castle to meet an old friend.

Note: The Sorting Hat song was made for me by my friend BlackenedSunrise so thanks!


	6. Hallow Victory

Disclaimer: As always stated here I own my O.C. and J.K. Rowling owns just about everything else

Chapter 6: Hallow Victory

Lupin was moving cautiously down the tunnel under the Whomping Willow, wand out and lit. While he didn't think that Sirius would attack him now, he couldn't be sure if the letter was the prelude to some kidnapping planned by him or was sincere. Emerging out of the tunnel, he found Sirius sitting on the destroyed loveseat across from the entrance of the tunnel. What was surprising to Remus was that other than his eyes, Sirius looked like his old self to his neatly trimmed hair and goatee to his favorite suit.

"Hello, Remus," Sirius said quietly, and Remus noticed that Sirius had his wand in his lap just in case this did turn into a duel.

"Hello, Sirius, why did you ask to meet here?" Remus said, cutting quickly to the point.

Sirius chuckled lightly and said, "Always cutting straight to the point huh Moony."

"I don't have times for games Sirius," Remus said.

"Fair enough, you are quite busy being a respectable teacher, if only your students knew how much of a prankster you were," Sirius said with another chuckle before his face became serious. "Remus, normally I'd act impulsively and by myself, but I've been cautioned to be smart about how I go about this."

"About what Sirius?" Remus said getting a touch annoyed about the roundabout way Sirius was talking.

"Remus, Wormtail is alive, he framed me for the murders of those thirteen people," Sirius said heavily and Remus just looked at him skeptically.

"I hope you're going to explain that Sirius, because I'm starting to think Azkaban did unhinge you, well more than you were before," Remus said with a ghost of a smile at the small joke.

Sirius eyes lit up for a second at the joke, but turned empty again just as fast as he threw an old newspaper clipping at Remus.

"It's right there in that picture Moony," Sirius said.

Remus picked up the picture and was shocked to see a very familiar looking rat on one of his students' shoulders. More importantly, it was a Weasley and Harry was close to the entire family from what Remus had seen.

"What happened that night Sirius?" Remus asked quietly as he sank into the chair next to him, still staring at the picture.

"As I said in my letter, Prongs and I got the bright idea to use Peter as the Secret Keeper because everyone would assume I was judging on how close I was to the Potters. That night, I went to check on Peter and found he was gone and there was no sign of a struggle. Fearing the worse, I immediately went to Godric's Hollow to find Hagrid pulling Harry out of the rubble of the destroyed house," Sirius explained, a single tear ran down his cheek as he thought of his best friend. He went on, "after Hagrid took Harry to live with Petunia and her family, I tracked down Peter, cornered him in that Muggle street, he yelled out that I betrayed Lily and James, then he blew the street up with wand behind his back."

"And the explosion went all the way to the sewers, he transformed after cutting off his finger, and left you at the scene thinking he was dead hence why you were laughing when the Ministry arrived," Remus concluded.

"I was carted off to Azkaban by Crouch before a trial could be given because I was the perfect scapegoat, the best friend who betrayed his closest friends for power, otherwise the truth would have come out," Sirius said bitterly.

"How did you escape?" Remus asked as that was the last piece of the puzzle for him, "you didn't use Dark magic like they said right?"

"Since I knew I was innocent, I was able to hold onto one thought and that kept my powers alive, so I merely changed into my Animagus form, slipped through the bars and swam to shore. Then I ran into Ryan Kemper, who gave me my wand and encouraged me to be smart about things," Sirius said while Remus looked even more shocked.

"Ryan helped you?!" Remus exclaimed.

"He was going to break me out of Azkaban, I don't know how but he knew I was innocent," Sirius said with a chuckle at Remus' face.

"He is still helping you isn't he?" Remus said suspiciously.

"All he has done is made sure my letter got to you undetected, but yes he wants to help clear my name, I think he has those two girls who came with him keeping an eye on Harry and Peter," Sirius said. He looked Remus in the eye and asked, "so can I count on you Remus and is all forgiven?"

"I just need to know one more thing; did you and James think I was the spy?" Remus asked.

"We weren't sure so we told no one except Peter, I'm sorry Moony," Sirius said with apologetic look.

Remus was silent for a moment, got up and gave Sirius a manly bear hug and said, "Of course Padfoot we are brothers in mischief after all, what's more is I certainly will help you get back at the traitor, but just like Ryan said we need to be smart and not spook Peter too much."

"I was thinking of a plan to put him on edge, I do have a part to play as the mad escapee," Sirius said with a gleam in his eye that matched the one in Remus' eye.

"I'm sure it will be grandiose, I'll play my part as well," Remus said and they both started laughing hard, happy to have one of their best friends back.

October arrived faster than Harry expected. The student body had collectively decided that Professor Lupin was their favorite professor of all time, while people were split over whether DADA or Dueling was the best class. While most of the Slytherins had nothing nice to say about Professor Lupin, no one paid their comments any heed.

Professor Lupin's classes were just as interesting as his first. After boggarts they had moved onto Red Caps, a sort of goblinlike creature that lurked about on old battlefields and in dungeons, then to kappas, a scaled monkeylike creature that would strangle those who disturbed their pools. Professor Lupin also would discuss certain aspects that would be carried over into Professor Kemper's class.

After the boring first class, Professor Kemper had pulled out all the stops and had worked the third years hard, teaching them new spells, how to use them in different situations then having students face off. Ron was still Professor Kemper's favorite student to call out because Ron was still being lazy in his work for the class and it showed every time he faced someone in a duel. Harry, Daphne, Hermione and Abygail had quickly become the top students in Dueling, while Neville, who had become emboldened by Harry inviting him into his circle of friends, was close behind.

Care of Magical Creatures was also fast becoming a favorite of students. After the first day with the hippogriffs, Hagrid had toned things down a little by teaching about Kneazles, how to care for Augureys, and how to deal with an infestation of Bundimuns. Hagrid would sometimes allow Harry, Ron and Hermione to help care for Buckbeak and the other hippogriffs after their weekly visits for tea.

To say Harry was happy with those classes and how the year was going overall would have been an understatement. He felt he was finally learning things properly and it showed in his other classes. Harry had quickly risen to a top position in Transfiguration and Charms by utilizing what Professor Kemper taught, and Professors Flitwick and McGonagall were quite pleased by his progress. He was still behind Hermione in those classes and the others except DADA and Dueling, but she had discovered a new rival in Abygail for everything else.

Abygail had proven to be extremely knowledgeable and while everyone had thought it would irk Hermione, it had actually given her someone she could talk complex topics with. Whenever Hermione and Abygail started talking, Harry and Ginny would sometimes join in while Ron would just tune them out and go back to reading his Quidditch magazines or eating. That was another thing that was making Harry happy was Ginny.

Harry wasn't sure when it had happened, but he could not imagine his group of friends without her. Ginny had quickly become the person he enjoyed spending his time with most, much to Ron's growing annoyance, but Harry couldn't help it. Her personality, her sense of humor, her looks was slowly drawing him in and every time they spent time together he would get weird sensations in his stomach. If only he got that feeling when he was in Divination, which was saying something if Potions was no longer his least favorite class and Snape was no longer his least favorite professor.

While Snape had become ambivalent towards Harry, in fact sometimes Harry felt Snape was helping him when he commented on Harry's potion; Snape was focusing his bullying on Ron more because of his lackluster performance. Even Neville had improved in Potions, but Ron's laziness was hurting him and Snape took every chance to belittle and enrage Ron. Ron had already spent several nights in detentions with both Snape and Professor Kemper, but he refused to learn his lesson. Harry and Hermione had tried to encourage Ron to be more proactive with his studies, but nothing was coming of it and it was starting to wear their friendship a bit thin.

The only class that Harry and Ron had the same level of work motivation for was Divination. Harry had quickly grown to despise Professor Trelawney and her constant predictions of his death, and the way the majority of their class seemed to believe her, particularly Parvati and Lavender. The two girls would spend hours with Professor Trelawney and come back to the common room with superior looks on their faces that drove just about every one crazy.

Harry luckily had a new thing to distract him now that it was October and he found himself sitting in the brisk locker rooms with the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team waiting for their captain Oliver Wood to start his speech.

Oliver Wood was a burly seventh year student and the Keeper for the team, his job being to protect the giant goalposts. Oliver had a slight manic look in his eye and desperation in his voice as he began his speech.

"This is our last chance—my last chance to win the Quidditch Cup. I leave at the end of the year and I won't have another shot at this," Oliver started.

"Gryffindor hasn't won in seven very long years, okay injuries and tournament cancellations aside, we have the best team in the bloody school," he said punching his fist against his open hand and the manic look even more prevalent in his eye.

"We have three utterly amazing Chasers," Wood exclaimed pointing in turn at Alicia Spinnet, Angelina Johnson, and Katie Bell.

"We've got this Oliver don't worry," Alicia said and her two scoring teammates agreed with sharp nods.

"We have two unstoppable Beaters."

"Thank you for the flattery Oliver, we do try," the twins said together smacking their Beater bats against each other.

"And we've got a Seeker who hasn't failed to catch the Snitch yet," Wood yelled out and looking at Harry with fierce pride. "And me," Wood said as an afterthought.

"The best Keeper in the whole school," the team cried out in unison and a slight cheer.

"My point is," Oliver said as he started to pace in front of his team, "the Cup should have had our names on it two years running. Ever since Harry joined, I've thought we had it clenched, but we haven't. This is the last chance we all could see our names on the cup together."

Oliver said this last bit so dejectedly that the team piped up.

"This is our year," Fred said clamping a hand on Wood's shoulder.

"We are going to crush the competition," Angelina said.

"Definitely, they won't know what hit them," Harry said and the rest of the team agreed.

"I do have one other announcement, and that is after our first match against Hufflepuff, I want to put together a reserve squad, just in case injuries plague us," Wood said glancing at Harry.

"Sounds like a great idea Oliver," Alicia said and the team agreed wholeheartedly

Full of determination and fierce devotion to each other, the team started practicing three nights a week. The weather was getting colder and wetter, the nights ever darker, but this didn't dampen the vision the team had of hoisting the Quidditch Cup.

Harry was returning to the common room with Fred and George one evening after practice. The twins had been discussing with Harry a prank they wanted to carry out but they would need his help.

"Guys as fun as that would be, I'm not helping you humiliate Malfoy in that way, I don't want to scar the rest of the school's minds," Harry said laughing while the twins looked put out.

"Fair enough Harry, we will figure out some other way to embarrass him," George said as Fred gave the password to the Fat Lady.

They entered the room to hear an excited buzzing coming from the Gryffindors lazing around.

"Must be first Hogsmeade weekend then," Fred said and his brother shared an excited look with him.

"Excellent, we needed to restock at Zonko's," George said excitedly as they moved off to discuss who knows what.

Harry joined Ron and Hermione at their favorite corner and asked, "So first Hogsmeade date was posted?"

"Halloween," Ron said happily as he added the final touches to his Astronomy star chart. "What are you most looking forward to Harry? Zonko's? Honeyduke's?"

"I'm not sure if I want to go to Hogsmeade this time around," Harry said a bit reluctantly.

"What?!" Ron exclaimed while Hermione glanced at Harry with a knowing look and went back to silently reading.

"Well I feel sort of bad that Ginny can't join us in Hogsmeade so I thought I'd stay behind and keep her company until the feast," Harry said.

"Why would you want to spend time with my annoying little sister and not with your best friends in Hogsmeade?" Ron said his ears going red.

"Because Ginny is a great friend Ron, and I don't think it's fair that she can't spend time with us there yet," Harry answered staying calm.

"Honestly Ron, it might be better if Harry stays in the castle anyways, we don't know if Sirius Black is nearby or not and as he is after Harry, it would be best if he erred on the side of caution," Hermione said joining into the conversation.

"But, Hermione he wants to spend it with Ginny and she will just annoy him," Ron said still trying to win his side of the argument.

"Somehow I doubt Harry would be annoyed spending a few hours with Ginny," Hermione said and Harry got the distinct impression that Hermione knew something he didn't.

Before they could continue this part of the conversation, Crookshanks leapt up onto Hermione's lap with a dead spider hanging from his mouth, which he promptly snapped up.

"Oh good boy Crookshanks did you catch that all by yourself," Hermione said petting her cat.

"Does he need to eat that in front of us," Ron said scowling at the cat. "Just keep him over there since Scabbers is sleeping in by bag."

Harry stifled a yawn and opened his bag to pull out his own star chart, parchment, ink and a quill.

"You can copy mine if you want," Ron said a bit grumpily but trying to defuse the tensions between them.

"That's okay Ron, I just have a few stars left to label, but thanks for the offer," Harry said handing Ron's chart back to him.

Hermione gave Harry a proud look as she despised copying then went back to reading while Ron pulled out another Quidditch magazine detailing the Chudley Cannons. Crookshanks was still looking at Ron and the quivering lump in his bag when he pounced.

"OY!" Ron roared as Crookshanks' claws ripped into his bag, "GET OFF YOU BLOODY CAT!"

"Ron, don't hurt him!" Hermione yelled out as the whole common room turned to watch the situation. Ron swung his bag around with Crookshanks still on it as Scabbers sailed out of the open top.

"CATCH THAT CAT!" Ron roared out as Crookshanks took off after Scabbers, who was moving around in a terrified manner.

George made a dive to snatch Crookshanks, but missed. Several other students tried to grab the cat as Scabbers and Crookshanks darted through the common room and towards an old chest of drawers near the dorm stairs. Scabbers shot under and Crookshanks tried to swipe at him but his paws couldn't reach all the way under the drawer.

Ron and Hermione rushed over; Hermione grabbed Crookshanks by his middle and heaved him away from the drawer while Ron got down on his stomach and with great difficulty pulled Scabbers out by his tail.

"Look at Scabbers," Ron yelled at Hermione, dangling Scabbers in front of her. "He's skin and bones and it's because of that stupid bloody cat."

"Ron, Crookshanks is a cat, Scabbers is a mouse, it's nature for Crookshanks to chase him," Hermione said in a shaking voice.

"There's something wrong with that cat how did he know Scabbers was in my bag?" Ron bellowed out trying to calm Scabbers down and put him in his pocket.

"He probably smelled him Ron," Hermione said but Ron wasn't really listening.

"That cat has it in for Scabbers, he was here first and he is ill, so keep him away Hermione," Ron yelled and he turned away and headed up into the dorms.

Dumbledore was sitting in his office, watching as the smoke that he had been scrying Harry with dissipate as the little silver machines stopped whirring. Dumbledore had been scrying Harry a lot ever since the first day of classes, watching for the dark miasma that Ryan said emanated from his scar. Thinking back on that conversation had Dumbledore of two minds, one he was relieved that this had been caught early, but also he was worried about how to remove it and any repercussions from the removal process…

**FLASHBACK**

Dumbledore had been enjoying the first day of classes, seeing the students chatting animatedly about this and that. The joys of teaching and seeing young children excited to learn was the thing he enjoyed most as headmaster. A knock came at his door, interrupting his thoughts.

"Come in," Dumbledore said as Ryan Kemper opened the door with a troubled look.

"Dumbledore, can you summon Snape, he needs to hear this as much as you," Ryan said with a sigh as he sank into the seat across from Dumbledore.

"Of course," Dumbledore said as he looked at Fawkes, who vanished in a flash of flame, "what is wrong my old friend?"

"Let's wait for Severus, Albus, I would like to explain only once," Ryan said quietly. As he said that Fawkes reappeared with a slightly disheveled Snape.

"You called Headmaster," Snape said coolly.

"Yes Severus, Ryan wished to explain something to us," Dumbledore said turning back to Ryan. "Ryan?"

"Dumbledore, Harry's scar contains a shard of Voldemort's soul," Ryan said cutting straight to the point and causing Dumbledore and Snape to be stunned into silence.

"I noticed a dark miasma emanating from the scar, it was slight but looking into his mind showed me how he has that connection to Voldemort," Ryan said continuing.

"How did you notice this," Snape said breaking his silence and letting his professional curiosity take hold.

"Certain techniques I've learned and developed Severus," Ryan said. "But right now that isn't important, what is important is solving this issue before Voldemort returns."

"Why is that?" Snape asked.

"Because while Voldemort has no body, that soul shard will not grow any stronger, but if he returns it will start to aggravate Harry's darker emotions," Ryan answered.

"So we consign Potter to slaughter then?" Snape said quietly looking at Dumbledore.

"What can we do, no one has ever been able to figure out how to destroy a Horcurx without destroying the host object or being," Dumbledore said sadly thinking he was condemning Harry to death.

"Dumbledore, you swore to me nothing would happen to the boy, that we would protect him for her," Snape cried out at Dumbledore.

"Severus," Ryan said laying a calm hand on Snape's shoulder, "we aren't going to kill Harry, I can think of one ritual that would extract the soul shard."

"What ritual?" Snape asked a slight deperate tone in his voice.

"Albus, Severus, this ritual does require certain materials that will take until the year is out to gather, but I promise we will be able to free Harry of this, it may even help his magic flourish more," Ryan said with a serious expression.

"Severus, this changes many things I think, if a shard of Voldemort's soul is in Harry's scar that can only mean his soul was unstable enough from other acts," Dumbledore said as Ryan nodded.

"Horcruxes, the only thing that would cause his soul to be unstable enough to shatter willy-nilly," Ryan said as Snape looked horrified.

"The Dark Lord created Horcurxes, no wonder no one could kill him last time," Snape said. "But where are they?"

"Based off this theory, we encountered one last year, Riddle's diary," Dumbledore said. "That was meant as a weapon though so I would imagine Tom would have made more."

"You can only make up to six of them before your soul can't be split more or you risk the Void," Ryan said stroking his goatee.

"Then how did the shard form?" Snape asked and continued, "And how do you know all of this?"

"I've spent a lifetime battling darkness Severus, I've learned much and as regards to the shard I imagine it was a small chunk blasted off when the Killing Curse rebounded and is not a true tear of soul," Ryan answered.

"Gather what you need for the ritual, Ryan and thank you for bringing this to our attention," Dumbledore said as a veiled dismissal.

Taking it as such, Snape and Ryan left the office. Dumbledore though was curious what they were saying and discreetly followed them under his Disillusionment Charm and as they reached the corridor below, Ryan turned to Snape and said, "Severus if I may be so bold, perhaps you should treat Harry through an unbiased lens, he is not James after all."

"If I let go of my hatred, what do I have left but emptiness within," Snape answered without looking at Ryan.

"You have a chance to grow and move on, I'm not saying you forget everything, just think about what I said Severus," Ryan said as he walked away leaving Snape standing there for a moment and he too turned and left.

Dumbledore canceled the charm on himself and walked up to his office and as the he ascended the stairs, a small smile played across his lips.

**END FLASHBACK**

Dumbledore just sighed and looked out into the grounds as the moon shone brightly in the sky. So many things must be planned for and he had the distinct feeling that Ryan and his charges were observing and waiting for the right time.

Ron's bad mood with Hermione carried over the next few days. He barely talked to her during classes and would often slip snide comments into conversations about her supposed feelings for others' pets. Harry was starting to get sick of his attitude and had decided to head off the tension building that could wreck their friendship while they waited for Transfiguration. A disturbance at the front of the line of waiting students distracted Harry though, in the form of Abygail, Parvati and a crying Lavender.

"What's wrong Lavender?" Hermione asked as she and Harry moved up to see what the commotion was.

"She got a letter from home this morning," Parvati whispered, "her rabbit Blinky got killed by a fox."

"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that Lavender," Hermione said.

"I should have known, Professor Trelawney said what I would dread most would happen on the sixteenth, and today is that day," Lavender sobbed out.

"You were dreading Blink dying?" Abygail questioned.

"Well not necessarily from a fox, but I was dreading him dying," Lavender said with tears falling from her eyes.

"Was Blink an old rabbit?" Hermione asked curious.

"Well no he was just a baby," Lavender said while Parvati held her friend.

"Then why were you dreading it?" Hermione questioned. "I mean logically it doesn't make sense if he was such a young rabbit and you got the news today so he couldn't have died today."

"Don't pay Hermione any heed, she doesn't care about others' pets Lavender," Ron said loudly.

"That's enough Weasley," Abygail snapped before Harry could do the same while Hermione's face flushed.

"You got problem Ericson," Ron said getting in Abygail's face.

"Why yes I do, it's something small called your attitude towards someone who is supposed to be one of your best friends," Abygail said.

"You don't know the situation," Ron hissed at her.

"Oh really, because I think the entire house, heck the entire school knows by now that you're angry at Hermione for something cats do all. the. time." Abygail said with the last three words including a finger being jabbed into Ron's chest.

"Stay out of it Ericson," Ron yelled at her.

"No I don't think I will," Abygail said serenely, "I don't like friends fighting over stupid reasons like the natural instincts of a cat or…" and that point she leaned in and whispered the other part so low only Ron could hear and his face became enraged.

"You have no right to interfere," Ron yelled at her.

"If it makes someone happy who I consider a friend then I will, so here's a present from them," Abygail said as her wand whipped up into Ron's face and she clearly said, "_Bates Mocos._"

A yellow beam hit Ron right in the face and he yelled loudly in pain as large bat bogies erupted from his nose and started to attack him.

"I think I've made my point clear, Weasley oh and Hermione that was for you as well," Abygail said as Professor McGonagall opened the door to see a crying, but laughing slightly Lavender, a bogey covered Ron, a serene looking Abygail with her wand out, and the rest of the class laughing hard.

"Ms. Ericson, did you attack Mr. Weasley?!" Professor McGonagall said through clenched teeth.

"Yes professor, but then Ron was belittling Hermione and I can't stand friends fighting over silliness," Abygail said with a smile.

Professor McGonagall had a ghost of a smile on her face for half a second then she turned stern again and said, "Twenty points from Gryffindor for attacking a fellow student, we do not hex people Ms. Ericson even if at the best of times." Turning to Ron she said, "_Finite Incantatem,_ and Weasley please do refrain from fighting with your friends, as they may not stay your friends if you continue to do so."

Saying that Professor McGonagall ushered all of the students into the classroom, and Ron took his seat next to Harry and Hermione and whispered out, "I'm sorry guys, I was acting stupid it won't happen again."

"It better not," Harry whispered back and Hermione nodded, "we stick together Ron, but keep that sort of thing up and Professor McGonagall words will be prophetic."

As class ended, Professor McGonagall called out, "Mr. Potter a moment if you would."

"Go, I'll meet you guys later," Harry said to Ron and Hermione. Harry walked up to Professor McGonagall as she sat down behind her desk.

"Normally Potter, I don't like to intervene in a student's free time, but you need to know something," Professor McGonagall began to say before Harry cut her off.

"Is this about Sirius Black being after me, professor?" Harry asked. "Mr. Weasley told me about before we left on the Hogwarts Express."

"Well if you know Potter, this probably won't surprise you that I'd rather you not go to Hogsmeade at the end of the month, it is much too dangerous and I'm rather uncomfortable you training for Quidditch with just your teammates around," Professor McGonagall said.

"Professor, I was actually not planning on joining everyone in Hogsmeade this time, I was going to spend time with a friend who can't go there yet," Harry said with a smile. "As for Quidditch, couldn't Madame Hooch oversee things, probably wouldn't help our chances at the Cup if she is giving us pointers."

"That it wouldn't and I would like to finally take the smug look off Severus' face whenever Quidditch comes up," Professor McGonagall said with a sigh. "I'll see if I can arrange something with Rolanda for Quidditch but if I may ask who are you spending time with?"

"Ginny Weasley, professor," Harry answered and he could feel his face heat up as Professor McGonagall looked at him closely with a raised eyebrow.

"She's just a friend professor," Harry said quickly while Professor McGonagall smiled ever so slightly.

"I'm sure Mr. Potter, you're free to go," Professor McGonagall said as Harry got up and left. Minerva couldn't help but smile and think to herself, '_just like Lily and James.'_

Halloween morning was soon upon the school and that meant for most third years and above, it was time for a trip to village of Hogsmeade. Harry awoke with the rest of his roommates and went down to breakfast, listening to everyone sharing their plans for their day in Hogsmeade while looking forward to his plans for the day.

"We'll bring you back plenty of stuff from Hogsmeade, Harry," Hermione said with a smile as he joined her, Ron and Ginny at the Gryffindor table.

"You aren't going to Hogsmeade Harry?" Ginny said looking confused. "Ron said you were going last night."

"Nope, I decided that I wasn't going this time and I would spend the day with you," Harry said with a smile while Ginny looked utterly shocked.

"Really?" Ginny whispered in a small, quiet voice while inside fireworks of joy were going off.

"Yes really, and Ron knew I was going to," Harry said.

"I think it's a stupid idea Harry, spending time with my sister when you could be with Hermione and me," Ron said, not noticing the warning signs from both Hermione and Ginny who were throwing death glares at him.

Before they could say anything to this, Abygail walked up behind Ron with her sister and said, "Look Nicole, an idiot who doesn't seem to learn his lesson."

"Nah, he's just too stubborn sis and prideful," Nicole said in her usual bubbly voice.

"Weasley, I'm pretty sure I told you two weeks ago not to pick stupid fights with your friends," Abygail said.

"Look Ericson, just shove off, it's none of your business," Ron said his anger rising.

"Don't talk to my sister that way, you won't like how it ends," Nicole in a sing song voice as she walked away to have lunch with Astoria Greengrass and some of her other friends.

"My dear sister has a point, don't do it again, well must be off got plans for the day," Abygail said as she walked away but not before giving Ginny a look that everyone else missed except Ginny who nodded her thanks.

"Ginny, stay away from those Ericson sisters and leave Harry alone he should be coming to Hogsmeade with us," Ron said angrily

"No," Ginny answered in a calm voice

"Ron, leave it be," Hermione said. "Harry wants to spend time with her."

Ron got up and then stormed out, but turning back he yelled out, "Stay away from my sister Potter."

Harry was silent for moment then he sighed out, "that could have gone better. Still want to hang out Ginny?"

"Yes," Ginny said immediately but before she could say more the twins appeared.

"We couldn't help but overhear," Fred started.

"But you plan to spend the day with our sweet innocent sister Harry," George continued.

"We were just wondering should we prank Ron for you," they both said together.

"Uh that's uh," Harry wasn't sure what to say but Ginny answered.

"I'll handle this myself, your humble apprentice needs to refine her skills," Ginny said smiling impishly.

"And that's why we Weasleys fear you dear sister," Fred said with a grin and he turned to Harry. "Watch yourself Harry; you have no idea what you're getting yourself into."

"I think I know quite well, you wouldn't believe the stories I've heard," Harry said with a smirk while Fred and George paled a bit.

"Uh well best be off," George said grabbing his twin and they left.

"I think I'm going to leave too, find Neville and see what he's doing for Hogsmeade," Hermione said getting up and as she passed she whispered into Ginny's ear, "give me the details later, and do try and contain yourself."

Ginny blushed ever so slightly but quickly got it under control before turning back to Harry and asking, "so what do you want to do today with a castle all to ourselves basically?"

"I was thinking a walk around the lake, maybe some flying, I don't know just spend time together," Harry answered with a smile while Ginny's imagination went into overdrive with the possibilities.

"Uh Ginny you there?" Harry asked her after a minute or two passed shaking her out of her daydream of lying with Harry under the big oak tree by the lake's edge and they had been getting closer.

"Yeah, yeah that sounds good to me," Ginny said smiling back.

"Okay then," Harry said as he offered his hand to help her up. Taking his hand Ginny couldn't help but break out in a huge grin and wonder just what Harry was feeling for her now.

**Hogsmeade**

Ron was walking angrily around the village, muttering to himself.

"It's not fair, why does everyone gang up against me when I'm right," Ron grumbled to thin air. "And stupid Ericson needs to learn to mind her own business, I treat my friends just fine, okay maybe I get a little jealous, but it is justified," he said, the last bit barely said aloud through his grumbles.

_ 'Why would he want to spend all this time with Ginny, she never was part of our group before,' _Ron thought to himself as he neared the village. '_It's like he's almost replacing me with her. I can't let that happen, maybe I could get Fred and George to help me, or Hermione.'_

With new conviction, Ron headed for Zonko's to try and find Fred and George to enlist their aid. Entering the shop, he immediately located his brothers and their best friend Lee Jordan stocking up on Dungbombs and Stink Pellets.

"Fred, George, I need your help," Ron said as he walked up to them.

"With what Ronniekins?" George asked.

"Stopping Harry and Ginny from hanging out, she's trying to break up our friendship," Ron said with conviction.

Fred and George looked at each other and starting laughing loudly. Ron was getting annoyed as they continued to laugh when Fred managed to get out through his laughter, "no way Ron, if Harry and Ginny want to spend time with each other we aren't going to oppose them, you know better with Ginny's temper."

"Come on guys, help me out here," Ron pleaded with them, but the twins turned serious.

"Ron, if you keep asking us we will prank you," George said with a business-like look. "And we learned something new recently from a book that was open on Professor Lupin's desk that we've been dying to find out what it does."

"So off you go Ron, but thanks for the laugh," Fred said as he turned back to the merchandise on the shelves.

"Guys if you don't help I'll tell Mum about your antics here," Ron threatened, which was precisely the wrong thing to say.

George looked over his shoulder then back to his partner in mischief and said, "Dear sir brother o' mine I believe he just tried to blackmail us."

"I agree Dr. Mr. brother, and as we just warned he has just become a test subject," Fred agreed and they both turned to face Ron with their wands drawn.

Ron paled and started backing away saying, "Hey, wait guys, I'll leave, no need to hex me."

Before he could say anything else, Fred and George both called out, "_Facetiae" _and a pink swirling beam hit Ron as he tried to run through the door. Outside, Ron thought that maybe the spell hadn't worked but as he took a step, a loud wet sound issued from his feet and people around him started to laugh.

"Nice one, Ron," Dean called out as he and Seamus walked into Zonko's laughing.

Ron turned red and tried to run away, but each step he took made the same loud wet sound and everyone's laughter was ringing in his ears.

Mumbling under his breath as he ran to try and find a professor, "Bloody Fred and George, don't they see it's for both of their own goods that Harry and Ginny don't hangout." Finding Professor Kemper outside Tomes and Scrolls, Ron ran up to him while Kemper cocked an eyebrow at the sounds coming from him.

"Mr. Weasley, I sincerely hope that you have been hexed and are not suffering from some unknown physical ailment," Professor Kemper sighed out as he rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"My brothers hit me with some spell, can you help professor?" Ron begged.

"Very well Mr. Weasley, but on one condition," Professor Kemper said with a slight smile.

"Anything sir," Ron said promptly.

"At some point in the future, I shall ask you to hand me something, please do is that clear?" Professor Kemper said.

"Sure professor," Ron said thinking he was just going to ask him to hand in a paper.

"_Deflatus," _Professor Kemper said and the loud wet sound stopped emitting from Ron's footsteps.

"How did you know the counter-spell sir?" Ron asked as he hadn't even said what Fred and George did.

"I recognize the spell from a long while ago," Professor Kemper said as he started to walk away. "Remember your promise Mr. Weasley."

Ron nodded and slightly deterred from his original purpose for now, he went to try and find Hermione to at least spend the rest of Hogsmeade having fun and he would think of another way to stop Harry and Ginny from being together.

Elsewhere in Hogsmeade in a secluded alley, Daphne walked up to a figure in the shadows.

"Better make this fast Abygail, Tracey will be distracted only for so long by dresses," Daphne said quietly.

"Then I'll cut to the point, I need eyes and ears in Slytherin House," Abygail whispered.

"Why would you need that," Daphne wondered aloud. "I wonder are we up to something interesting and against rules or just looking for boring gossip?"

"Something like the first thing, but I've noticed you have a certain knack for finding things out in this school and are rather sneaky," Abygail said with a shadow of a smile.

"It's amazing what the power of observation does, but I need more details before I commit to any sort of proposal and I need to get something out of it too," Daphne said neutrally.

"Spoken like a true Slytherin," Abygail said smiling before she turned serious. "I want a spy in Slytherin because I have a feeling that darkness is on the rise and an eye in the house with a certain penchant for turning out Dark wizards and witches would be nice to have."

"I could agree to that, if and only if, you meet these conditions," Daphne said holding up three fingers. "One I want protection from any sort of retaliation if my house somehow finds out, two I want to have access to some of the private books I know you read that have extremely advanced techniques in them and three, I want to include my sister in this deal as she already is friends with Nicole."

Abygail was silent for a moment, then reached out her hand and took Daphne's in a firm handshake. Daphne felt a rush of energy for a moment and knew something had changed forever with her.

"You have a deal Daphne," Abygail said smiling.

Daphne smiled back and then walked away while Abygail waited in the alley for a moment before she heard the slight sound of rushing water.

"Well?" Nicole asked.

"Third one found, first awakened," Abygail said quietly.

"Should I…" Nicole started to say but Abygail held up a hand.

"I'll handle the other two, just try and notice others," Abygail said.

"Okay sis," Nicole said bubbly, "Astoria might be one too, not really surprising but time will tell."

"We don't have too much longer, probably about two years by the feel of things," Abygail said with a sigh.

**Hogwarts**

Ginny could not remember the last time she had so much fun before, and the fact it had been with Harry made it even better. The walk around the lake had, while not the most romantic, been a major stepping stone for Ginny. She and Harry had just talked and talked about anything and everything, but every time the conversation had steered towards feelings or Harry's past, he would clam up. Not letting that deter her, Ginny had still been able to read between the lines and the silence to see Harry was starting to see her not as just a friend, and she was thrilled.

Ginny had also felt her own feelings starting to increase and deepen and knew she was moving away from puppy love to full-on romanticism and that did scare her a lot. They had ended up under the oak tree like she had been daydreaming earlier and Harry had been holding her hand slightly the whole time while they watched the fall clouds. They had lain there for a while until Harry decided he wanted to go see Hedwig in the Owlery and they were currently walking there when a voice called out, "Harry? Ginny?"

Harry and Ginny looked at each other and doubled back to see Professor Lupin, looking out his office door.

"What are you doing here on a Hogsmeade weekend and where are Ron and Hermione?" Professor Lupin asked the pair.

"I decided to hang out with Ginny today since she couldn't go to Hogsmeade yet, and Ron and Hermione are somewhere in the village," Harry answered while Ginny peered inside the office noticing a large tank.

"What's in there professor?" Ginny asked Lupin.

"Ah, I've just taken delivery of my next lesson; do you two want to see?" Lupin asked with a smile and both teenagers walked into his office. Harry noticed that Lupin had decorated the office much differently than his predecessor, going with a homely feel. In the corner of the room was a large tank with some creature floating in it.

"What is that?" Harry asked intrigued.

"That's a grindylow, a water demon found in most of Northern Europe and America," Lupin said thoughtfully while Harry and Ginny moved in to get a closer look. "Notice the long thin fingers, very strong grip but also rather brittle. We should have no problem dealing with him after the kappas I think."

The grindylow bared its teeth at them then darted into the weeds in the corner of the tank.

"Care for a cup of tea you two, I was just about to make some," Lupin asked

"Uh sure professor," Harry said awkwardly and Ginny nodded.

Lupin smiled, pointed his wand at a nearby kettle and steam started hissing out.

"I'm sorry but all I have are tea bags, although you are probably sick of tea leaves," Lupin said with a twinkle in his eye.

"You know about that?" Harry asked surprised.

"Professor McGonagall told me," Lupin said with a chuckle. "Not worried about it I'm sure."

"Not at all," Harry answered thought he was thinking about why Lupin hadn't let him face the boggart.

Something in his expression must have alerted Lupin because he asked, "Anything wrong Harry?"

"I was wondering why you didn't let me face that boggart sir," Harry asked.

"Ah I thought it might be obvious," Lupin said with a slightly sad smile.

Harry looked confused before Ginny leaned in and whispered, "Professor Lupin thought Tom would appear, like he did for me."

Harry looked alarmed at the admission from Ginny about her boggart, but he turned to Lupin and said, "I did think of Voldemort at first, but then I remembered the dementors and how they made me feel."

"I must say I'm impressed, it appears what you fear the most is fear itself," Lupin said with a warm smile. "I assume you thought I thought you were too weak to face it?"

"Well yes, it did cross my mind sir," Harry said a bit sheepishly before he remembered something Ginny had asked on the train. "Professor, do you remember saying you would teach us how to get rid of dementors?"

"I do, in fact I was just wondering when you would bring it up again Harry," Lupin said. "I imagine you and Ginny are interested in learning?"

"Yes sir," they both said quickly.

"I'm not sure when we can start, I've been feeling a bit ill lately and would rather be healthy when teaching this so perhaps once next term starts," Lupin said. A knock came at the door and Snape walked in with a smoking goblet.

"The potion as you asked for Remus," Snape said

"Thank you, Severus, could you leave it on my desk for me?" Lupin said while Harry and Ginny shared a look both thinking that the goblet looked a bit sinister.

"Take it directly, and I have more in stasis down in the dungeon if you shall require more," Snape said.

"I shall probably take another dose after dinner," Lupin said and gestured at his grindylow. "I was just showing Harry and Ginny my next lesson."

"Fascinating, a fine specimen of a grindylow Remus," Snape said before nodding at Harry and Ginny and leaving.

"What potion is that professor?" Ginny asked.

"Ah it's the only thing that helps against my illness I'm afraid and Severus is much better at brewing than I," Lupin said walking over and taking a sip of the goblet and making a face in the process. "It's a pity sugar negates the potion, the taste is horrendous."

"Snape is very interested in teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts," Harry said still eyeing the smoking goblet in Lupin's hand.

"It was his favorite subject in school," Lupin said with a chuckle and taking another sip.

"You went to school together?" Ginny asked.

"Yes, I was here with Severus and your parents Harry," Lupin said smiling. "Your father was actually a good friend of mine same with your mother, and Sirius Black before he turned away from everything good in the world."

"You were friends with him?!" Ginny said loudly and Harry looked equally shocked.

"It was a different time, and he was a different person, much like your brothers Fred and George actually," Lupin said sadly. "Ah before I forget Harry, I was asked to give you a letter from a mutual acquaintance to deliver to you."

Harry looked confused as Lupin opened a drawer and pulled out a letter and handed it to Harry. Harry opened it and Ginny leaned over to see who had sent it.

_Dear Harry,_

_I'm glad to see you were able to find the magic bus, never safe to travel at night. I feel I have to clarify my last statement to you that night. I was one of your father's best friends at Hogwarts and that's how I recognized you, your father's hair and your mother's eyes. If ever you wish to talk about them or want to get to know me, just address a letter to Mr. Padfoot and give it to Remus he will make sure I receive it._

_Mr. Padfoot_

_P.S. I have several years of birthdays to make up for so fair warning for Christmas for being away for so long_

_P.S.S. I'm serious about the other postscript_

Harry smiled while Lupin finished off his goblet while Ginny looked confused.

"Who's Mr. Padfoot Harry?" Ginny asked.

"He helped me find the Knight Bus when I ran away from the Dursleys," Harry answered with a smile. "Professor Lupin, we should probably be going."

"Yes of course, and by all means feel free, both of you, to stop by anytime," Lupin said. "And Harry, Mr. Padfoot would really like to hear from you sometime, he is rather lonely."

"I'll make sure to write, see you at the feast Professor Lupin," Harry said and Ginny waved as they walked out of the office.

Remus sat back and smiled thinking that Sirius was doing the right thing getting in touch with Harry and that tonight was step one of the plan they had made to lure Peter out.

_'It's a pity the cat wasn't able to get Peter this time, but we have all year still and freaking Peter out should help open up opportunities,' _Lupin thought as Ryan walked into his office.

"Remus, you asked if I had a more permanent solution to your ailment and I have to report a success," Ryan said with a grin and pulling out a ring with a wolf's head on it from his pocket.

"Seems rather gaudy," Remus said, taking the ring and examining it. "What does it do?"

"Helps you control the beast and gives you the ability to control the transformations," Ryan said. "Unfortunately I couldn't find any of the Seiơr hags that can actually reverse the condition with my scrying, but this is the next best thing. You took the potion today I take it?"

"Severus just delivered it, yes, and if I must have this ailment, controlling it is far more beneficial than losing it completely," Lupin said putting the ring on and watching it resize to his tastes so the wolf head blended into the ring. "Thank you Ryan."

"My pleasure Remus, well I shall be off a nap is called for before the feast," Ryan said with a chuckle and as he got to the door he turned and asked, "Sirius is making the first move tonight correct?"

"Right when the students are at the feast so no one could potentially get hurt," Lupin said with a nod.

"Excellent," Ryan said with a gleam in his eye that was matched in Lupin's.

A few hours later, the students had returned from Hogsmeade and were in the middle of the Halloween feast. The Great Hall was decorated with hundreds of floating pumpkins with candles within them, clouds of bats near the ceiling and candy galore. Ron had apologized to both Harry and Ginny for his behavior and had taken a seat between them, which was making Ginny highly suspicious. Hermione kept glancing at Ginny and Ginny knew she was in for a rough interrogation later. The feast was a riotous occasion and ended with the entertainment of the Hogwarts ghosts flying in formations and recreating old battles.

Meanwhile, Sirius had slipped into Hogwarts through a secret passage the Marauders had not placed on the map that led out onto the sixth floor and was currently standing in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"I'm sorry my dear lady, but I need to get into the tower," Sirius said politely.

"No password, no entrance and don't I know you," the Fat lady said.

"Oh yes, Sirius Black is the name and I really must insist," Sirius said. "I can't guarantee your portrait's integrity if I don't."

"I have strict instructions that if Sirius Black is here, I must report to the headmaster immediately," the Fat Lady said and started to move out of the portrait. Sirius quickly drew a knife from his coat pocket and slashed her portrait several times causing her to scream and run away.

Sirius pretended to act enraged while he also did a few spells to give the other portraits proof he as mad and as they moved off to alert others, Sirius quickly did a spell that would alert him, Ryan, or Remus if Peter tried to leave Gryffindor Tower and place a variant of the Trace on him.

Moving quickly he ran from the landing and quickly found his way into the secret passage that led out to Honeyduke's and Sirius Apparated back to the Shrieking Shack to wait for the rest of their little group.

Joining the rest of the Gryffindors after the feast ended, Harry and his friends were moving towards Gryffindor Tower when they hit a roadblock of their fellows milling about outside.

"What's going on? Don't tell me you all forgot the password," Percy said as he elbowed his way to the front. Percy was silent for a moment before he yelled out, "Someone fetch the Headmaster immediately, NOW!"

A few minutes later, Dumbledore arrived with Professor McGonagall, Snape, Kemper, Lupin and Mr. Filch to observe what was the clearly mauled portrait of the Fat Lady and the smudge marks on the walls from several spells.

"Mr. Filch find the Fat Lady," Dumbledore said in a calm voice. Turning to a nearby picture of a monk Dumbledore asked, "Did you see what happened here my good friar?"

"It was him, Headmaster, the one the children talk about, Sirius Black," the friar said.

Silence reigned for half a second before mass commotion broke out and Dumbledore called for silence and said, "Please return to the Great Hall, the other houses will be joining you shortly as we search the castle. Mr. Weasley please lead the way."

The Gryffindors followed Percy, talking loudly while Dumbledore looked back at the portrait and mumbled out, "the damage is all superficial and can be quickly repaired, Ryan, Remus go search the grounds, Minerva, Severus mobilize the other professors and search the castle from top to bottom."

The professors quickly left to follow Dumbledore's orders and Ryan and Remus slipped under the Whomping Willow and joined Sirius.

"So, how was your mission Sirius?" Ryan asked sitting down on the arm of a nearby chair.

"A success, the Fat Lady should be fine tomorrow and the tracer spell you showed me is in place," Sirius answered with a huge grin.

"Dumbledore is probably tearing his beard out trying to figure out how you got in and past the dementors," Remus said laughing hard.

"I just hope they won't cancel the Quidditch match," Sirius said with a smirk.

"I doubt Dumbledore will; it gives the students a distraction from you sad to say Sirius," Ryan said with a chuckle.

Sirius pouted for a second then smiled wide and said, "I hope Harry is as good as you suspect he is Moony, and speaking of Harry did you give him my letter?"

"I did Padfoot, and he is good you should hear Minerva sing his praises," Remus said smiling as Sirius looked excited.

"Remus, enough time has passed I think, we should head back to avoid suspicion," Ryan said and Remus nodded.

"Padfoot, we will speak again soon stay out of trouble," Remus said clapping his best friend on the shoulder and Sirius returned the gesture.

"Don't I always?" Sirius said with a smirk plastered across his face and both Ryan and Remus rolled their eyes and left.

The next few days, the school was filled with speculations on how Sirius Black could have gotten in with all the dementors around the school. Hannah Abbott insisted during their next Herbology class that Sirius Black could turn himself into a shrubbery, which several Muggleborns found amusing for some odd reason. The Fat Lady had been restored but after the attack she was rather paranoid still and would only agree to return to her portrait after a long vacation, so she and the portrait of the crazy knight Sir Cadogan had been switched temporarily, much to the Gryffindors' dismay.

Sir Cadogan spent his time challenging students to duels and switching the passwords so often that Neville and several other younger students had asked for a weekly list. Another side effect was that Harry was now being constantly dogged by Percy wherever he went. Harry suspected Percy was under his mother's orders to make sure he didn't do anything too risky, but Harry was making Percy's job rather difficult by constantly going to Quidditch practice and using secret passages Percy didn't know but Harry did from his midnight walks.

The weather was progressively getting worse so by the day before the match, the winds were howling and sheets of rain were falling heavily. This did not deter the Gryffindor Quidditch team from practicing under the watchful eye of Madam Hooch, and Wood had been careful to point out Cedric Diggory, the captain and Seeker of Hufflepuff, was a bit better suited for this wetter being slightly heavier and bigger than a normal Seeker.

Wood had done this several times though and the last time Harry had been late to Defense, but thankfully Professor Lupin had been understanding and just simply given Harry a warning not to be late again.

The day of the match, Harry was awoken to a blast of cold air in his ear, and noticed Peeves the Poltergeist floating next to him.

"Shove off Peeves," Harry said taking a swipe at the annoying spirit who just cackled and flew off blowing a raspberry as he zoomed away. Harry sighed and tried to go back to sleep but the howling storm outside made it impossible. Grumbling at his bad fortune, Harry got out of bed, got his Quidditch gear and left the dorm. As he went to close the door, Crookshanks tried to dart inside and Harry bent down and grabbed him before he got inside.

"You know I reckon Ron may be right, plenty of other rats and mice to eat around here," Harry said setting Crookshanks down again after closing the door firmly. Heading down into the common room, the storm was even louder there and Harry sighed knowing that Quidditch matches wouldn't get called off for this light sprinkle.

Harry decided to while away the hours by reading in front of the fire, getting up once in a while to stop Crookshanks from sneaking up the boys' staircase. Finally hearing noises starting to drift down from the dorms, Harry thought it had to be time for breakfast. Ignoring Sir Cadogan's challenge to stand and fight, Harry was eating some toast when the rest of the team joined him. Eating in silence the team was entirely focused, and it was Wood who finally broke the silence.

"It's going to be a tough one with this weather, but we've been training for this all month," Wood said quietly.

"Don't worry Oliver, it's just a bit of rain and wind, nothing we can't handle," Alicia said soothingly putting a hand over Wood's.

Nodding, Wood stood up and the team followed, but as they exited the Great Hall, Ginny and Luna walked down and seeing Harry, Ginny ran over and hugged him tightly and whispered, "Good luck Harry, I know you'll do great."

Harry smiled and whispered back, "For you then Gin, I'll try and end this early." He followed the rest of the team out into the storm that was definitely more than a bit of rain and wind. It showed the popularity of Quidditch that the whole school fought their way through the storm to watch the match. In the locker room, Wood tried to give his usual pre-match pep talk but only gurgling sounds came out and he just shrugged and led his team out into the tempest.

Meeting the Hufflepuffs in the middle of the pitch, Wood and Cedric shook hands and they all mounted their brooms waiting for Madam Hooch's whistle. There was a few seconds of silence then the shrill sound of the whistle was heard in the wind and Harry kicked off hard with the rest of the players and the game was on.

Within five minutes, Harry was soaked to the bone, could barely distinguish his teammates from their opponents, which meant catching the Snitch was next to impossible. He couldn't hear the commentary over the wind or even the crowd the wind was that loud. Twice a Bludger almost unseated him and several time a player almost crashed into him. His glasses kept being covered by water.

He lost track of time and it was getting incredibly hard to keep his broom from not being blown off course. When the first streak of lightning flashed across the sky, Harry heard the sound of Madam Hooch's whistle and he landed heavily in the mud with the rest of the team.

"What's going on?" Harry asked.

"I called time-out, we're fifty points up but if we keep playing, we risk playing into the night and with this weather getting worse we risk injuries," Wood said. "Can you catch the Snitch, Harry?"

"Only if it flies up my sleeve, I can't see a bloody thing with my glasses being blurred," Harry said. Hermione and Abygail suddenly appeared with Abygail holding an umbrella over them and Hermione looking excited.

"Harry, Abygail and I had an idea give me your glasses," Hermione said and Harry handed his glasses over.

Hermione pulled out her wand, tapped the glasses and said, "_Impervius." _"That should help, I just charmed them to repel water," Hermione said handing Harry his glasses back and Wood looked like he could kiss her.

"Alright team, let's get back in the air," Wood said but Abygail called out over the wind, "wait this should help too."

Abygail then swept her wand in a wide arc, yelled out "_Solus Pluvia Obex,"_ and immediately Harry felt his uniform become as dry as if it had been hanging in front of a huge fire, and the rain was not hitting it. Abygail smiled and said, "That is only going to last for five minutes so make it count guys." She and Hermione then hurried back towards the stands while the team mounted and kicked off, filled with new determination.

Harry was looking everywhere for a hint of gold and passed Cedric who was flying the other way, when lightning flashed and Harry saw a huge black dog in the stands, but when he looked again it was gone.

"Harry, behind you Diggory is going for the Snitch," Wood yelled out and Harry looked over and saw that Cedric was racing towards a fleck of gold. Harry accelerated towards them, willing his broom to go faster and he was able to get neck and neck with Cedric. That was when a wave of cold swept over Harry and he knew what it was without even looking down. Making a huge swipe of his hand towards the Snitch, Harry looked down to see a hundred dementors looking up right at him and he started hear the screaming of his mother and consciousness started to fade away.

Ginny watched in horror as Harry slipped from his broom and fell towards the ground, her heart leaping up into her throat when several silver things charged the dementors and Dumbledore stood up and waved his hand at Harry, and he immediately slowed down and hit the mud with a soft thump. Ginny rushed out of the stands towards where Harry was laying in the mud, whispering to herself, "Please don't be dead or hurt Harry, please, please."

Reaching Harry, Ginny saw he wasn't injured to her great relief but his broom was gone, but she did see one thing, a set of wings fluttering in Harry's fist.


	7. Red Winter

Disclaimer: O.C.s and original spells are mine; just about everything else is J.K. Rowling's and rate and review as always

WARNING: Some dialogue is taken from Prisoner of Azkaban's chapter The Marauder's Map

Chapter 7: Red Winter

Waking up, Harry noticed the all too familiar ceiling of the Hospital Wing and just sighed to himself. '_I always seem to end up here; maybe I need to learn some healing spells. At this rate I'll have my name on the side of a bed here.'_

Opening his eyes, Harry heard a cheer come from all around him.

"Great job Harry," Wood yelled out happily.

"Absolutely spiffing catch, even if those dementors knocked you out," Fred said laughing.

"Indubitably, most indubitably," George agreed, and the girls on the team gave Harry a hug each.

"So we won?" Harry asked looking around to see that Ron and Hermione were also there, but Ginny wasn't.

"Handily," Ron roared out in joy. "250 to 60 was the final score; we crushed the Badgers."

"Does anyone know where my broom is?" Harry asked and Hermione shuffled forward holding a bundle of twigs and smashed pieces of wood.

"Sorry Harry," Hermione said in explanation, "but after you fell the wind carried your broom right into the Whomping Willow. This is all Professor Flitwick was able to recover."

Harry looked at the bundle and was slightly heartbroken. His Nimbus had never let him down, and seeing it destroyed made the victory seem a bit bittersweet. Hermione handed the bundle over and Harry just held it in his hands for a moment, just reminiscing.

"Guess I'll just have to order a new broom," Harry said with a sigh.

"Don't worry about it Harry, our next match isn't until February," Wood said.

"For now let's celebrate!" Fred and George both said at the same time. They produced food and drink from their robes and it was starting to become a huge party around Harry's bed when Madam Pomfrey came out of her office.

"Now really, my patient needs rest and quiet, no more of this carrying about. Out," she said bustling towards them.

The team left, calling out that they were proud of Harry, and he was left to stew in silence. Harry was still a bit upset over his broom being destroyed, but he was far more disappointed that Ginny had not been there when he woke up. He shook his head at that thought, wondering why he cared if she was there or not. She was a good friend after all, so she could be wherever she wanted to be and harry had no say over that. But part of him wanted her to be there, to have her supportive hand on his, a warm hug that conveyed she was there for him, maybe a kiss, too…

_'What is going on? Why am I thinking this way about Ginny?' _Harry thought rubbing his hands against his eyes, trying to push those thoughts away. '_Maybe I just need some sleep, yeah that might help get rid of these ridiculous notions about kissing Ginny and her nice, probably soft lips and, no stop Harry,' _ he thought, berating himself at that last part and falling back on his pillow. He closed his eyes and just tried to fall asleep.

A few hours later Harry still hadn't truly fallen asleep; his brain just assaulted him with thoughts and fantasies about Ginny. All of this left him wondering where this all was stemming from and why it was happening now. '_Maybe it's because of that near death fall or I don't know,' _Harry sighed to himself. '_It's all just so complicated and confusing.'_

Harry was interrupted from his musings by the doors to the Hospital Wing opening a little bit and a silhouette slipping through and closing the door. The person walked very softly down to where Harry was lying, and they sat down next to his bed.

"Hi," Ginny said softly.

"Hey," Harry answered back just as quietly

"I guess it's only fair I visit you in the dead of night," Ginny whispered out with a small smile and on her face and attempting a little humor. Harry noticed that there were tear tracks on her cheeks and the hint of tears in her eyes.

"Maybe," Harry whispered back also with a small smile and sitting up a little. "What's wrong though Ginny, you look like you've been crying?"

"Very tactful Harry, asking a girl why she is crying," Ginny whispered. "But in answer to your question, I was crying because I was afraid I lost you."

"You were afraid of losing me?" Harry said quietly, his mind going into overdrive with scenarios.

"Yes, Harry if you haven't noticed you're rather important to me," Ginny answered laying a hand over Harry's. "You're a really close friend of mine and I wouldn't want anything to happen to you." What Ginny wasn't saying was she had been crying hard over the fact that if Harry had died, she had been a coward and not told him her feelings for him. But she wasn't about to say anything yet, unless Harry brought the subject up right now.

She did notice that Harry had become very quiet with a faraway look in his eye and a small smile on his lips. "Harry? You still here?"

Harry's mind had shut down temporarily when Ginny put her hand over his, causing a warm tingling to shoot up his arm. _'Just like my fantasy,' _Harry thought to himself while Ginny tried to snap him out of it.

"Harry?" Ginny said waving her hand in front of his face.

"Uh yeah sorry Ginny, I'm just well sort of flattered that I'm so important to you, because you're important to me too," Harry answered looking her in the eye as he got his wits back.

Ginny immediately flushed, while inside butterflies were going crazy in her stomach. To her, Harry had basically admitted that he had been thinking about her.

"How important am I, Harry?" Ginny whispered very quietly.

Harry just kept staring at her, his eyes flickered once to her lips and for a second it looked like he was leaning in to kiss her, but the next he had flushed and looked away and said, "You're very important, you're one of my best friends Ginny."

Ginny sighed internally because she was certain Harry was falling for her now, but he was either still confused or was embarrassed or she didn't know, but knowing her goal was in reach prompted her next move.

"Harry, have you ever considered well, no maybe I shouldn't say," Ginny sighed out and squeezed his hand before getting up.

"Consider what Ginny?" Harry asked still not looking her directly in the eye.

"What it would be like to like someone so much, but resigning yourself to just being a good friend and hoping beyond hope that something changes," Ginny whispered in his ear. She then hugged him tightly and walked away, but when she reached the door she looked back to see Harry staring after her with the strangest expression on his face. She saw a mix of confusion and tenderness on his face and she smiled to herself and left.

Harry watched her leave and his confusion had only increased. That hug she had given him and what her parting comment had been left Harry conflicted. On one hand, it had sent feelings he had never experienced through him, feelings that felt incredible, but on the other he was absolutely terrified of them too because of how powerful they were.

'_Do I like Ginny, is this why I'm feeling all of this?' _Harry thought as he laid in the darkness. At that thought he felt a swooping sensation in his stomach and warmth spread through him and he couldn't help but smile. '_I like Ginny Weasley,' _he thought as he started to finally drift into sleep, _'but how do I tell her that?' _As he fell asleep, his dreams were filled with her and back in Gryffindor Tower, her thoughts were of him.

Returning to the hustle and bustle of the school on Monday was a welcome relief to Harry. Apart from hanging out with his best friends, it distracted him from the biggest issue on his mind: how to ask Ginny how she felt about him. He had been determined to just ask her on Monday, but then reality hit him in the form of his best mate as they walked to Professor Lupin's class with Hermione.

"Hermione, is there any reason why Colin Creevey is spending too much time with Ginny when she is not annoying us? Are they dating?" Ron questioned forcefully.

"Uh, no she's just friends with him Ron. They have every class together so they just study together, and she doesn't annoy us," Hermione said reprimanding Ron for the last bit.

"Good because she is far too young to be dating anyone," Ron said matter-of-factly while Harry's mind ground to a halt. He had been hoping to get Ron's opinion on whether or not he would approve of Harry seeing his sister, but that question was now answered.

"Don't you seem to be a bit hypocritical Ron, one second you find Ginny annoying, the next you're being the older protective brother," Hermione said with a glare as they entered Professor Lupin's classroom.

"Not at all Hermione," Ron answered as they sat down, waiting to see what creature the professor had this week. Before she could say anything, Professor Lupin walked in with a smile on his face. The class had noticed he seemed far less tired and a lot of the gray in his hair had disappeared. No one knew why though, although various theories had been flying around, each more ridiculous than the last. Hermione though had been thoughtful about it and could sometimes be seen researching something but she would never say what.

"Well I hope everyone had a good weekend and got the work on Imps done from last class," Professor Lupin said as he waved his wand and everyone's homework zoomed to his desk.

"Today we will be covering…" Lupin said as he pulled off the cover to show a strange creature that looked like it was made of wisps of smoke and had one leg. "Hinkypunks" he stated happily.

What followed was a very enjoyable lesson on hinkypunks. Professor Lupin would occasionally crack a joke while they were taking notes while also staying on topic.

"Lures travelers into bogs- notice the lantern on the head," Lupin was saying as he walked around the class. "People follow the light, get lost and well…" At this the hinkypunk made a horrible squelching sound against the glass and Lupin looked down at it and said, "What he said," and the class laughed a bit.

When the bell rang, everyone started gathering up their things and leaving as Lupin called out, "would you wait a moment Harry?"

Harry nodded and turned to Ron and Hermione, "I'll catch up with you guys in a bit then."

"I heard about the match, I'm sorry to hear about your broom," Lupin said when they were alone. "Is there anything that could be done to repair it?"

"No, the Whomping Willow destroyed it, I just have to order a new broom eventually," Harry said with a sad note to his voice.

"Ah, they planted the Whomping Willow the same year I started Hogwarts, the older students made a game to try and touch the knot that freezes it until a boy named Davey Gudgeon nearly lost an eye," Lupin said, looking nostalgic.

"You heard about the dementors then?" Harry asked.

"Yes, and I'm very sorry I haven't been able to start teaching you the Patronus Charm, just been so busy with classes and all," Lupin said sheepishly.

"It's okay professor, but do you think we can start soon?" Harry asked. "I don't want to have to deal with that again during a match, we very nearly lost. Why do they affect me so much?"

"It's not a matter of weakness if that's what you were thinking," Lupin sighed. "You've experienced far more horrible events than your classmates save one; they make you relive the deepest, darkest memories of your life."

"Azkaban must be terrible then," Harry said.

"Indeed it is, most inmates go insane and lose their magic once the last scrap of happiness is sucked out of them, but that isn't the worse weapon in a dementor's arsenal," Lupin said. "When a dementor finally tires of you, they will suck out your soul with something called a Dementor's Kiss."

"They suck out your soul, doesn't that kill you?" Harry said a bit horrified.

"No, you can survive without your soul, but you are left an empty husk," Lupin said and there was a sad look in his eye. "They are currently debating whether or not to give the dementors the authority to perform it on Sirius Black."

"No one deserves that fate no matter how terrible his crimes may be," Harry said with a shudder. "How did he escape professor?"

Lupin clamped his suitcase rather suddenly and said, "Only Sirius Black could say, but knowing him as I used to, it was probably through some grandiose means. He was always one for the theatrics, but he was always a rock for his friends, especially for your father.

"But that's by the by; I believe I'll finally be free to teach you the Patronus Charm once the new term begins, oh and you can bring Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Neville and Luna if you wish to these sessions I did say they could learn as well if they so pleased," Professor Lupin said with a smile. One thing he couldn't help but notice was Harry's reaction to Ginny's name, he had immediately flushed.

'_Sirius is going to love this little tidbit of information, looks like Harry has fallen for a fiery redhead as well,' _Lupin thought.

"Uh that works for me professor and I'll see about the others," Harry said quickly and left the classroom. Lupin smiled to himself, opened his desk drawer, and reached for the mirror he and Sirius used to communicate.

November was slightly agonizing for Harry, but also exhilarating at the same time. With the promise of anti-dementor lessons with Professor Lupin ahead, Harry had redoubled his efforts in his schoolwork and Quidditch. Ravenclaw had slaughtered Hufflepuff in their match near the end of the month and this had pushed Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Slytherin into essentially a three way race for the Quidditch Cup and Wood had started to push the team to new levels of toughness. Wood had also announced that in January, the team would be holding some tryouts for reserve team members in case any of the main team got injured or was unable to play.

Harry was still trying to figure out how to talk to Ginny about what he was feeling, but every time he would get half a chance to talk to her they would get interrupted by someone coming to talk to either of them, with Ron usually being the interrupter. Harry was growing annoyed by this, but he knew Ron could not possibly know what Harry was so keen to talk to Ginny about, and all the while Ginny was growing more frustrated with her brother.

Ginny could tell Harry was trying to talk to her about something rather important to them both but that great prat of a brother kept making sure he was included in their conversation, almost like he was trying to split them up.

This was the state of things when Harry trudged his way to a Potions class two weeks before term ended. While the Christmas spirit was alive and well in the rest of the castle, and Harry wasn't going to be alone for Christmas as the Weasleys and Hermione were staying for the holidays, the dungeons remained cold and empty, and it seemed to Harry they reflected his situation perfectly.

Sitting down at their usual table, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville were getting their ingredients out for their Babbling Beverage potions when a commotion was heard near where Abygail usually worked.

"I believe I've warned you now, twice, to not sabotage my potion Malfoy," Abygail said annoyance clear on her face.

"For the last time, I did nothing and you can't prove anything even if I did," Malfoy said with a smug smirk. He had been trying all term to get Abygail to mess up and he thought he finally succeeded by dropping several lizard eyes into her cauldron when she wasn't looking causing her potion to turn a sickly red color.

"Enough," Snape said, swooping over to them. "Ms. Ericson, refrain from accusing students from underhanded tactics and admit that you made a mistake when you added too many lizard eyes to the potion."

"I did no such thing professor," Abygail said, her annoyance growing. "The instructions clearly said three and that's how many I added, but Malfoy here…" she started to explain but Snape cut her off.

"Five points from Gryffindor for arguing with a professor, and be thankful it wasn't anymore," Snape said. Before he could help himself, Harry blurted out,

"She's telling the truth sir, I saw Malfoy slip two extra eyes into her potion."

Snape looked Harry right in the eye, and, as always happened nowadays, Snape looked sad for an instant before his trademark sneer returned and said, "As you have no proof Potter, that's another five points for accusing a student of cheating."

Harry looked at the Snape with hatred, but Snape had already turned away to go observe Dean's potion. Malfoy looked immensely pleased with himself, but Abygail hissed out to him, "Just wait until Dueling class you little ferret, you'll be eating that kriffing smile."

Harry had no idea what kriffing meant, but it was probably an American thing. The rest of class passed uneventfully with Snape only taking another ten points from Gryffindor for Ron's shoddy potion. After eating a quick lunch, Harry, Ron Hermione and Neville made their way up to the second floor Dueling classroom to find it looked much different from last class.

All of the desks vanished and a large circle had been drawn on the floor in a silvery white line. Professor Kemper was standing near the window looking out while the rest of the third years filtered into the room. He turned when the last one found a place to stand.

"Today I thought we would begin something a bit unorthodox for most wizards and witches. As the class name says I'm supposed to teach you dueling and so far I've stuck to the traditional wizard duel, but to me that is rather restricting and short sighted," Professor Kemper said with a hard smile. "So for today and the next few classes until term ends, we will learn just one spell and the rest of class will be a small tournament to see who can best use this spell in addition to teaching you the basics of this new dueling style."

Professor Kemper suddenly whipped his wand out and yelled clearly, "_Gladi_" and a large longsword appeared that had spiraling gold and silver lines etched in the blade. Grasping the sword, he swung it several times around himself in circles, then drove it into the crack between two stones on the floor at his feet and addressed the stunned third years.

"The Sword Conjuring spell requires a strong will and concentration to pull off, and it is rather restricted by the British Ministry for Magic. This spell is only for use by the Aurors and certain wizards that have the proper clearances such as myself. Using it outside this class will land someone in Azkaban for no less than ten years according to your Ministry, so if I hear any student uses this spell beyond that door I'll personally escort you to your cell," he said. Noticing Hermione about to raise her hand, Professor Kemper continued, "And before you ask Ms. Granger, I've enchanted the room so the worse injury that one can accrue here is a blow to their pride. To simulate actual blows, whenever, say, a limb would be cut off or such, anything below the cut will become numb until the bout is over. Now what are you all waiting for, try to conjure your swords."

The room soon filled with cries of "_Gladi"_ and of course the first people to summon their blades were Abygail, who conjured a thin, but elegant curved blade that looked like a cross between a scimitar and rapier, Daphne, who conjured a straight rapier, Hermione, who summoned a simple short sword, and Harry, who conjured a medium length longsword with jade green inlay on the hilt.

Harry was admiring the blade while Professor Kemper went around the classroom, helping those students still having issues, such as Ron. After another five minutes, everyone finally had their swords. Some of the purebloods looked confident and Harry supposed they had some lessons or were just pretending. Harry actually read through several books over the summer that detailed fencing and sword fighting, and was fairly confident he could hold his own, even if this was only the second time he had handled a sword.

Professor Kemper moved to stand on the far side of the circle, turned and said, "Now that you all have your swords we can begin. May I have a volunteer please?"

Abygail immediately walked forward into the circle and just by the way she was holding the sword, Harry could tell she knew exactly what she was doing.

"As expected," Professor Kemper said with a dry chuckle. "Since Abygail is the first to enter the ring, she may select her first opponent, and whoever wins shall stay in the circle until forced out, disarmed, or disabled enough that they can no longer continue."

"I challenge Draco Malfoy as my first opponent," Abygail said clearly and Malfoy looked smug as he swaggered forward, shrugging off his school robes.

"This should be quick," Malfoy sneered at her as he took an extremely unbalanced stance. "Father had a private tutor teach me all about sword fighting, said it was a mark of a good pureblood to know how."

"I'm sure you were taught sooooo well," Abygail said as she whipped her sword up in a salute then twirled it down to her side at a forty-five degree angle pointing at the floor.

"Begin," Professor Kemper said loudly and Malfoy charged clumsily at Abygail who merely deflected his swing and smiled. For the next few minutes Abygail toyed with Malfoy, occasionally throwing out remarks that angered him and threw off his already poor form, but there was nothing he could do when Abygail decided to end it.

Abygail locked his blade on hers; she smiled at him, then moved faster than anyone had seen before and next they knew Malfoy was lying on the ground groaning and Professor Kemper called the match.

"Next?" Abygail asked and Theodore Nott moved forward, his sword looking like a slim, long dagger. He lasted not even a minute before Abygail had disarmed him, would have sliced off his right hand and flicked her blade up to his neck. Several more students tried but failed to defeat the blond witch, her elegant form taking full advantage of her opponents' sloppiness, and soon it was down to just Harry, Ron, Neville, Daphne and Hermione left to face their classmate.

Abygail didn't even look tired while the rest of the class was nursing their wounded prides. She looked directly at Ron and smiled at him and said, "Care to try your luck, Ron?"

"I'll take you," Ron yelled out and he ran into the circle, brandishing a smaller version of a Scottish claymore.

"Weasley doesn't stand a chance," Daphne said so quietly to Harry that he could have sworn her lips didn't move.

"Why do you say that, Daphne?" Harry muttered back under his breath as Ron and Abygail took their positions.

"Because she's going to switch her style up," she replied and Harry saw that it was indeed the case as Abygail went from her normal starting stance to holding her blade backwards so the curve of the sword went along the curve of her arm.

Ron looked confused for a moment then his face took on a look of smugness and he charged in, swinging his much larger sword at her. Abygail ducked under his swing, and then she made a quick slash at Ron's leg, cutting him at the knee. Ron roared in annoyance and he tried to swing lower, but Abygail rolled past him, popped up and hamstringed Ron from behind with a slice to the other leg. Ron fell down in a crumpled heap, his sword clattering to the ground.

"Oops, did you think power was going to help you Ronald?" Abygail said with a small smirk as Ron hobbled out of the ring angrily.

"Bloody Ericson, if she were playing my game, I'd crush her in four moves," Ron grumbled out to Harry and Hermione.

"Next up Ms. Greengrass if you would kindly," Professor Kemper said but Daphne shook her head.

"I'm smart enough to know when not to fight a clearly superior opponent professor," Daphne said looking at Abygail, and then turning back to Professor Kemper.

Professor Kemper chuckled loudly and said, "Very good Ms. Greengrass, twenty points to Slytherin for realizing that." Looking at the rest of the class, Professor Kemper said, "This entire exercise was precisely for this point, to engage a vastly more skilled opponent one must think clearly about their chances and deciding if it might be better to hold off and fight when one is far better prepared. That ends the class, but Mr. Potter, Mr. Longbottom and Ms. Granger do any of you wish to fight Ms. Ericson?"

Both Neville and Hermione shook their heads quickly, but Harry decided he wanted to try and stepped into the circle.

"You sure Harry, no one will think less of you if you don't fight me," Abygail said smiling kindly.

"Consider it my insatiable curiosity and my bone-headed rashness that made me do this," Harry said smiling back and bringing his sword up in a traditional salute that he read about.

"So be it," Abygail said going back to her normal stance as Professor Kemper called out for the bout to begin.

Harry, instead of rushing in like everyone else had, started to circle around and Abygail matched him step for step, never taking her eyes off him. She must have seen something though, for the next moment she was all over Harry and it was taking all of his instincts from Quidditch to just reduce her hits to glancing blows on his fingers or sides. Her speed was astounding, but Harry had the nagging suspicion that Abygail was holding way back. This was only confirmed when he felt a numbness start from his left forearm down.

Abygail spun out of her offensive and twirled back in, but her blade was coming in at slightly different angles than before and this time Harry felt more numbness forming in his legs. Determined to get at least one hit in, Harry made a desperate ploy pretending to fall down from all the attacks he had suffered then swinging as he fell at her seemingly unprotected left side. But he heard the clash of her blade against his as he fell and as he attempted to roll away, Harry felt a numbness all through his body as Abygail slashed across his back and ended the match.

"Well done Mr. Potter, twenty points to Gryffindor for demonstrating caution, tactics and a solid defense," Professor Kemper said as Abygail helped him up. She smiled broadly and leaned in to whisper, "Good job Harry, I'm sure Ginny would be proud."

Harry flushed a bit and wondered if Abygail knew what he was feeling for Ginny, but there was no way she could know. Quickly controlling his blush so no one could see it, Harry turned and walked back to the rest of the class with Abygail.

"That concludes today's class you are dismissed, and don't worry, we shall be working on this until term ends," Professor Kemper said as the class left while Abygail took an extra-long time packing up so she was the only one left. Glancing around, she closed her bag and walked towards Professor Kemper's desk.

"Harry has it in him," Abygail said, walking up to Ryan

"Once that soul shard is removed, he will be able to grow into the formidable wizard he should be," Ryan said, nodding and walking back to the window.

"Master, once it's gone should I…" Abygail said, trailing off as she joined Ryan at the window.

"Yes, Abygail, although the girl you awoke, make sure she is alone when it starts," Ryan said.

"Of course, Master," Abygail said with a bow and she left the room.

To everyone third year and above, the second to last day of term was another Hogsmeade trip, but Harry couldn't say he was looking forward to it as Ginny looked extremely glum because she once again couldn't join them in the village. Harry would stay again, but he had promised Ron and Hermione he would go this time.

So it was on the Saturday of the trip that Harry was walking down to the Great Hall with Ron, Hermione and a quiet Ginny wrapped up in scarves and cloaks. Reaching the doors, the three third years promised Ginny they would make sure to get her extra treats and the like from Hogsmeade and Harry promised her he would find her a suitable Christmas present, which slightly cheered her up.

Watching their retreating backs and seeing Harry look back at her with an apologetic expression, Ginny sighed and was about to head back up the staircase when she heard, "Psst, Ginny over here." Looking around Ginny saw Fred and George peeking out from behind a door leading off the hall and gesturing for her to come over.

"What do you two want? Can't you see I'm not in the mood," Ginny said walking up to the twins.

As she reached them both of the twins hit her with a spell and her hair was turned into a light shade of brown.

"Hey what was that for, I told you I'm not in the mood for pranks right now," Ginny said extremely irked at the twins who just smiled at each other.

"Ah yes dear sister, we couldn't help but notice how disappointed you were that you couldn't join a certain green-eyed boy in Hogsmeade," Fred started.

"So we thought perhaps, maybe, possibly, we could help you with your situation," George finished picking up right on his brother's train of thought.

"How's that exactly? I'm only a second year," Ginny said, glaring a bit at the twins.

"Why with an early Christmas present and a hair color change," the twins said together and pulled out a scrap of parchment, handing it to Ginny.

Ginny just looked at the parchment with a frown, and then she looked at the twins and said, "This is a scrap of parchment."

"Not just a scrap of parchment," Fred said shaking his finger, "_The_ scrap of parchment."

"The cornerstone of our success is now in your hands, sweet Ginny-kins," George said.

"Somehow I doubt that. Well if you guys aren't really going to help, and just wanted a target for a prank I'll just go back upstairs," Ginny said with a death glare but the twins just chuckled.

Fred pulled out his wand tapped it to the parchment, intoning, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Ginny's eyes widened and her jaw dropped as a map of Hogwarts appeared with the heading:

Messers. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs

Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Making present

The Marauder's Map

"Where did you guys get this?" Ginny whispered in shock as her eyes were drawn to the moving dots that showed a person's real-time position on the highly detailed map.

"When we were younger and innocent," Fred started to say and Ginny had to snort at that. "Well more innocent than we are now, we got into a spot of trouble with Filch."

"For some weird reason, he took offense to us letting off just a singular Dungbomb and hauled us to his office," George continued.

"He started threatening us with the usual."

"Detention."

"Suspension."

"Expulsion."

"Some mild torture."

"When we couldn't help but notice a drawer marked Highly Dangerous Artifacts," George said with a huge smirk.

"Don't tell me," Ginny said as a slow grin started to form on her face.

"While my amazing brother here distracted Filch with another Dungbomb, I picked the lock and voila, we found this beauty," Fred said matching his twin's smirk.

"Took us awhile to figure out how to work it, but the results speak for themselves. Now, as you can see, there are seven passages out of the castle," George said pointing at each one. "We are absolutely certain that Filch knows these four here, but these three are safe."

"Sadly this one has the Whomping Willow planted over it so even we don't know what's underneath it or where it leads," Fred said with a sad shake of the head, but he perked up and continued, "these two though are the best. This one here on the fourth floor leads to a large room we use as a sort of safe zone, it's cleverly disguised by a fake cave-in that moves when one taps the right stones."

"This one here though, behind the one-eyed hag on the third floor, has the passage that leads right to the cellar of Honeydukes," George said with a smile.

"So how do you wipe it away so no one can read it?" Ginny asked a plan forming in her head.

"Simply tap your wand to it and say Mischief Managed and it clears away," Fred said and also demonstrated. "Now Ginny we want your promise…"

"That you will use this map for good and not evil…"

"To further the spread of the noble mission of mischief and pranks…"

"And perhaps ensnare Mr. Potter's heart once and for all," the twins said together and Ginny froze and blushed.

"Whatever would you mean?" Ginny squeaked out.

"You both can't hide it very well, not that we mind. We approve in fact," Fred said throwing an arm around Ginny's shoulder.

"We would be simply thrilled to have young Harry and our dear sister as a couple," George said throwing his opposite arm around her so she was flanked by the twins.

"We only have one condition, you two help us in pranks and we promise not to take the mickey out of you guys….often," they said together.

To Ginny, she knew that was the best she could hope for from the twins. They had always liked Harry and she was their protégé, so she had an easy call to make.

"Of course, I'll make that deal and thank you so much, this is why you guys are my favorite brothers," Ginny said hugging both close. "Now I've got to dash."

"Hope to NOT see you in Hogsmeade dear sister," the twins said and Ginny dashed off to grab her cloak and scarf.

A few minutes later, Ginny was standing in front of the one-eyed hag and staring at the map in her hands. Finding the dot labeled Ginvera Weasley, she saw her dot was tapping the hump of the hag and saying, '_Dissendium' _in a tiny speech bubble.

Taking her wand out, she tapped the hump and muttered, '_Dissendium,'_ and the hump opened up to reveal a small gap that she was able to squeeze through. Looking around she muttered, '_Lumos,'_ clambered into the passage and started to follow it. For what felt like ages, Ginny followed the long, twisting passageway until it suddenly sloped up into a trapdoor that she almost hit her head off of. She put her ear to it and, not hearing any sounds on the other side, she opened it up and cautiously climbed into a storage cellar of some sort.

Closing the door, she noticed it blended in perfectly with the dusty floor. Ginny moved away from it and quietly creeped over to the wooden staircase. She could clearly hear many voices coming from above when the door at the top opened and she moved quickly to hide behind some boxes.

"And get another box of Jelly Slugs, dear, they've nearly cleaned out the whole store, bless them," a woman's voice said as an older looking man walked down the stairs and started shifting boxes around.

Seeing her chance, Ginny moved quickly from her hiding space up the stairs and found herself behind the counter at Honeydukes. Ducking down, she moved quickly into the crowd and blended in with all the Hogwarts students milling about the shop. She couldn't help but admire the various sweets that lined shelf after shelf. Some of her favorites were displayed prominently, like Licorice Wands and Fizzing Whizbees, while others she hadn't had the pleasure of tasting before.

Ginny though was on a mission to find Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and pushing past a group of sixth year Hufflepuffs, she noticed a very familiar head of black hair observing a shelf with blood-flavored lollipops with his two best friends.

"I don't think your sister would enjoy being tricked with a blood-flavored lollipop Ron," Harry said with a chuckle. "These are probably for vampires."

"Oh come on, she can take a prank," Ron said earning a look from both Harry and Hermione. "Fine, how about these then," he said grabbing a jar of Cockroach Clusters.

"You couldn't get that past me if you tried Ronald," Ginny whispered in his ear, causing all three to jump in surprise and the jar to fall to the floor.

"Ginny, how did you get here and what happened to your hair?" Hermione asked a little loudly and Ginny put her hand over Hermione's mouth.

"Shh, Hermione not so loud," Ginny whispered and she noticed Ron looked incredibly gob-smacked while Harry had a look that sent a tingle through her. Harry was looking at her with a mix of awe, surprise and, most importantly to her, pure happiness.

"How?" Harry asked quietly and Ginny couldn't help herself. She explained how Fred and George had helped her. Hermione didn't look so happy and Ron looked both angry and impressed, but Harry couldn't stop the smile from forming on his face.

"That's no fair, they give you the cool mischief map and I get nothing," Ron grumbled out.

"She's not going to keep it though," Hermione said sternly. "You're going to turn that in straight to Professor McGonagall aren't you Ginny?"

"I don't think she needs to Hermione," Harry said before Ginny could say no.

"Why ever not?" Hermione said with a slight glare at Harry.

"Because, one it would get Fred and George in a ton of trouble, two it can actually help us get to classes faster, and three it's Christmas and Ginny deserves a break," Harry said with a smile.

"But what about Sirius Black?" Hermione said but Ron had the answer to that.

"Hermione, you've seen the notices all over Hogsmeade that say dementors are patrolling the village at night and the shop owners live right above. They would hear a break-in," Ron said with triumphant look.

"Well I guess," Hermione said reluctantly, and Ginny thought she would assuage her fears.

"Hermione if I thought this thing was dangerous, I wouldn't be here. I would be in Dumbledore's office, especially after last year," Ginny said with a serious expression.

"Okay, okay," Hermione said raising her hands in defeat and Harry smiled and said, "So what all do you want Ginny? My treat."

Ginny smiled hugely and, grabbing Harry's hand, she whipped through the shop, getting as many sweets as she could. After paying for everything, the group walked out of the shop and walked down the main street with Ron and Hermione pointing things out to Harry and Ginny, like Zonko's and the post office. Ginny popped into Zonko's to see all the prank items that were inspiring her brothers and just had to get a few.

Harry and Hermione were waiting for Ron and Ginny outside the joke shop when Hermione whispered, "So when are you going to ask her?"

"Ask who what?" Harry asked, though knowing full well who and what Hermione was talking about.

"You know full well, Harry," Hermione said with a look.

"I don't know Hermione; you heard Ron, he doesn't want Ginny dating anyone," Harry said with a sigh, deciding pretending with the most brilliant witch was a lost cause.

"If it would make you happy, then Ron can deal with it," Hermione said with a smile. "If I were you, while both of them are inside buying joke items, why don't you slip away to that jewelry store next to the post office and get Ginny something for Christmas that tells her your exact feelings for her."

"Hermione, you're brilliant you know that right," Harry said quickly hugging her. He was about to dash off when a thought struck him.

"What if I'm not back before they come back outside?" he asked Hermione.

"I'll just tell them you wanted to walk around a bit and that you would meet us in front of the Three Broomsticks," Hermione said with a smile.

"Thanks Hermione," Harry said as he ran off while Hermione smiled to herself.

_'Looks like Ginny's plan worked faster than we thought,' _Hermione thought.

Harry found the jewelry shop named Constance's Gems rather quickly and walked inside to see rows upon rows of bracelets, necklaces and other jewelry.

"Hello?" Harry called out into the empty shop.

"Can I help you young man?" an elderly woman said as she walked out of the back.

"Yes, I'm looking for something for someone who is very special to me, but I don't know what I'm looking for," Harry said while the woman smiled.

"Ah, young love," she said with a misty look in her eye. "I think what you may be looking for is not here in the front of the store. Come into the back and let's see if we can't find you something."

Harry followed the woman into the back room of the store and he saw several smaller cases and a small workbench.

"Do you make every piece yourself, ma'am?" Harry asked and the woman laughed.

"I do indeed young man, and not with magic either, there's nothing like crafting something with your bare hands and a set of tools," she said. The woman sat down at her bench and faced Harry.

"Now tell me young man about this special someone so we might determine the perfect piece," she said. Harry launched into a very descriptive account of what made Ginny amazing.

"And she has such a kind, caring spirit towards those she cares about," Harry said finishing while the elderly woman was smiling and dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief.

"Well after hearing all of that, I think I have just the piece," she said getting up and walking over to a small chest. She opened it and pulled out a small box, carrying it over to Harry. "Here, see if you like this," she said.

Harry opened it and he knew immediately this was it. Inside the small box, a necklace rested on a velvet cushion, the likes of which Harry hadn't seen before. The necklace was on a strange silver chain that looked like liquid fire, the ruby that was prominently featured seemed to glow with an inner fire that gave it a faint orange-ish hue. Harry thought it captured Ginny's fiery personality and beauty perfectly and looked up at the elderly woman.

"This is incredible, the ruby looks like it has fire trapped within it and chain looks like liquid fire," Harry said and the woman smiled.

"It's how I shaped the stone and chain," the woman said. Harry looked at her confused.

"Shaped?" he asked.

"Many of us master jewel crafters have learned how to shape a material to our will, it takes a long time though," the woman said. Harry still looked confused.

"But you said you didn't use magic, just your bare hands?" Harry asked.

"That I did," she said, smiling, then she lifted the necklace out of the case and Harry saw the fire in the ruby shift and chain seemed to flow a bit.

"It's an illusion of a sort, I used my tools to craft this particular item for almost a year, every hit and scrape and polishing to achieve this effect," she said. "Whenever it catches the light the patterns appear to shift and flow."

"I can't accept this," Harry said. "There's no way I can afford it and taking something like this when you spent all that time would make me feel guilty."

"Nonsense young man, I craft things like this because to me, it's not about the money. It's about spreading happiness, so the price tag for this necklace is only twenty Galleons," she said.

"But, I…" Harry mumbled out not sure what to say and the woman adopted a brisk manner.

"Now I won't accept no for an answer young man, you said yourself it was incredible and the look on your face told me that it was perfect for her, and if I have to give this to you free of charge I will," she said. Harry sighed and pulled out twenty Galleons.

"Alright then," he said handing her the money. "I'm really thankful for this ma'am, but do you think you can send this to me on Christmas Eve, I don't want her to see it."

"Of course, now run along and enjoy the rest of Hogsmeade," she said with a smile, and Harry walked out of the shop and allowed himself to smile hugely. As he walked past the post office heading for the Three Broomsticks, he bumped into someone exiting the post office.

"Oof sorry sir, I wasn't watching where I was going," Harry said apologetically.

"We meet again young Harry," the man said with a smile, and Harry's eyes widened.

"Mr. Padfoot, what are you doing in Hogsmeade?" Harry asked.

"Needed to send an order form out, Christmas shopping and all," Mr. Padfoot said with a laugh. Harry noticed the dead look in his eye had lessened considerably. "Although it's a bit saddening, no one here recognizes me, and just between you and me you would think people would."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, totally confused.

"Well I was a rather infamous wizard here in my day, even today come to think of it," Mr. Padfoot said with a chuckle. "I blame that photo someone keeps passing around, I look completely different in it."

"Okay?" Harry said confused, before he remembered something he wanted to ask. "Mr. Padfoot, how did you know my father?"

"I went to school with him and your mother, we shared a dorm and all," he said but there was a sad look to his eye that got Harry thinking that Mr. Padfoot was not saying something. But before he could question him further, Mr. Padfoot changed the subject.

"I saw your match against Hufflepuff, you fly extremely well Harry. Your father would be as proud as a stag if he could see you fly," he said while Harry smiled at the compliment. Mr. Padfoot opened his watch and did a double take.

"My how time flies, well must be off Harry, hope you have a Merry Christmas and enjoy your present," he then walked off at a brisk pace.

"Wait what present?" Harry yelled after him, but Mr. Padfoot was already out of earshot and he Apparated away. Shaking his head at the man's bizarre habit of walking away leaving Harry with another question, he continued on his way to the Three Broomsticks. There he saw Ron and Hermione standing close together while Ginny was crouched a bit behind them.

Harry was wondering why when he saw Professors McGonagall and Flitwick, Hagrid and, most surprising of all, Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, entering the pub. As the door closed behind them, Harry rushed over to his friends.

"We should get a table near them, I'm curious about why Fudge might be here," Harry said.

"I agree," Hermione said then glanced nervously at Ginny who stood up again.

"I'm tempting fate here, but sure," Ginny said with a determined smile, while Ron just shrugged. "Say Harry where were you?"

"Just walking around the village a bit and I bumped into Mr. Padfoot of all people," Harry said as he opened the pub's door and everyone hurried inside. Ginny looked a bit startled.

"Padfoot is one of the names on the Marauder's Map," Ginny whispered as they slipped into the corner booth and Hermione floated a tree over a bit to hide them from the professors sitting nearby.

"That has to be the same guy then," Hermione said. "I wonder who the others on the map are, they have to be friends of his."

"Who did you say knew him before Harry?" Ron asked quietly.

"Professor Lupin," Harry said just as quietly and Hermione looked like she was putting two and two together.

"I wonder which one Lupin would be, maybe…" but before she could finish that statement, Madam Rosmerta, the attractive owner of the Three Broomsticks, walked over to the professors and the Minister with their order.

"A small gillywater—"

"Mine," Professor McGonagall's voice said.

"Four pints of my oak-matured mead—"

"Ta, Rosmerta," said Hagrid.

"A cherry syrup and soda with ice and umbrella—"

"Mmm!" Professor Flitwick said smacking his lips.

"So you'll be the red currant rum then, Minister."

"Thank you Rosmerta," Fudge's voice said. "Lovely to see you again, I must say. Care to join us?"

"Why thank you Minister," Rosmerta said.

Rosmerta walked away for a bit then returned, obviously with her own drink.

"So what brings you out to Hogsmeade, Minister?" Rosmerta asked.

Harry noticed that Fudge seemed to be looking around for eavesdroppers before he answered and all four Gryffindors sank down in their seats to avoid being seen. Fudge then said in a quiet voice, "What else, m'dear, but Sirius Black? I daresay you heard what happened up at the school at Halloween?"

"I did hear a rumor or two," admitted Rosmerta.

"Did you tell the whole pub, Hagrid?" Professor McGonagall sighed exasperatedly.

"Do you think Black is still in the area, Minister?" Madam Rosmerta whispered as a few students walked by.

"I'm sure of it," Fudge said after the students were gone.

"You know those dementors have searched the village, twice, and not found him. They're scaring away all our customers," Rosmerta said a bit harshly. "It's bad for business."

"Rosmerta, m'dear, I don't like them very much either," Fudge said shifting in his seat a bit. "Necessary precaution and all that, although they are rather furious with Dumbledore, he still refuses to allow them in the grounds."

"I should think so, you try teaching with those monsters swooping around, draining all happiness out of the students," Professor McGonagall said sharply while Professor Flitwick piped in, "Hear, hear."

"All the same, they are here to protect you all from something much worse, we all know what Black is capable of," Fudge said.

"I still sometimes find it hard to believe," Madam Rosmerta said thoughtfully. "If there was someone I thought who would never go over, it was Sirius Black. Thick as thieves with his best friend James Potter, the amount of times I had to chase those two out of my pub."

"Ringleaders of their little gang, exceptionally bright students and loyal to each other as if they were brothers," McGonagall said with a sigh. "Caused me no end of gray hairs with their antics."

"I dunno, those Weasley twins could give 'em a run fer their money," Hagrid chuckled out.

"Potter and Black make the Weasleys look like amateurs," McGonagall said.

"Of course, Potter trusted Black unconditionally and nothing changed when they left Hogwarts. Best man at the wedding, godfather to Harry, something Harry must never know, it would destroy him, but that's not even the worse of it," Fudge said.

"I thought that betrayal was enough Minister," Rosmerta said.

"You don't even know the half of it," Fudge said looking around again. "This is not public information Rosmerta so I hope for discretion."

"Of course Minister," Rosmerta said.

"Not many people know that James and Lily knew You-Know-Who was after them, but Dumbledore tipped them off when one of his numerous spies got the information to him," Fudge explained. "He advised them to go into hiding with the Fidelius Charm, something not even You-Know-Who could get around."

"How does that work?" Madam Rosmerta asked, and Professor Flitwick answered.

"An extremely complex spell," he said. "One puts their trust in someone, a Secret Keeper, who performs the spell and no one can find the hidden location unless told by said Secret Keeper."

"And Black was the Potters'?" Rosmerta asked and Fudge nodded.

"Naturally," Professor McGonagall said. "Dumbledore suspected someone close to the Potters had gone over and offered to be their Secret Keeper, but James would hear nothing for it and they chose Black and a week later…" Professor McGonagall couldn't finish the last bit as she became a bit choked up.

Taking up the narrative, Fudge continued, "Black got tired of being the double-agent, revealed his true colors by giving his master the location, but then young Harry ruined everything."

"Ruddy traitor," Hagrid rumbled out. "Turns up, on that flyin' motorbike he used ter ride. White an' shakin' he was and yer know what I did, I COMFORTED THE MURDERIN' TRAITOR!" Hagrid finished in a roar which McGonagall quickly shushed him.

"He asked fer Harry, but I told 'im that Harry was ter go ter his aunt an' uncle's. Black argued, but in the end he gave in. Told me ter take his motorbike, said he wouldn't need it no more."

"But Black didn't get away right? He was found by the Ministry the very next day?" Rosmerta asked.

"If only we did, it was Peter Pettigrew who cornered Black in that Muggle street," Fudge said with a sigh.

"Stupid boy, he was always terrible at dueling and on the draw," McGonagall sniffed. "Black could destroy him with his eyes closed, what with all his Auror training."

"Pettigrew died a hero's death," Fudge said trying to comfort McGonagall. "Eyewitnesses said Pettigrew yelled out 'Lily and James, how could you?' and he went for his wand. Well of course, Black was quicker. Blew everything within a ten meter distance to smithereens, crater all the way down to the sewers. I was one of the first on scene and I will never forget the sight, bodies lying around mangled and all that was left of Pettigrew was a finger, and all Black was doing was laughing."

"Well Pettigrew was given a posthumous Order of Merlin, Second Class and Black was sent to Azkaban. That's the story," Fudge finished.

"Is it true he's mad?" Rosmerta asked and Fudge shifted a bit.

"I would like to say the years in Azkaban unhinged him, but when I visited Azkaban last summer, he seemed almost bored. Asked for my paper, said he missed the crosswords," Fudge said. "I was surprised by how normal he sounded, almost as if the dementors couldn't affect him."

"Why did he break out? He's not trying to…" Rosmerta said drifting off at the last bit.

"I daresay his eventual goal is to return to his master, but for now we don't know," Fudge said evasively, but Harry and his friends knew why.

"Minister, if you wish to dine with the headmaster, we should be going," McGonagall said and there was a scrapping of chairs as the adults got up and left.

"Oh Harry," Hermione whispered, while Ron looked horrified. Harry, on the other hand, glanced at Ginny who looked a bit thoughtful, but also a little scared.

Then he whispered, "Something sounds off about all that Hermione, I don't know what, and only one person will know the truth."

"Harry you can't go looking for Black to ask him about that night, he's a raving lunatic out to get you," Ron said.

"I'm with Harry on this," Ginny said and Harry whipped his head around to look at her. "While I'm not encouraging you to look for him, only Black really knows what happened. All we just heard was second-hand accounts."

"We should head back to Hogwarts, we can talk about this more later," Harry said and got up.

"But Harry," Hermione started to say, but Harry held up his hand.

"Later Hermione. Ginny you be careful getting back to Hogwarts," Harry said. Ginny smiled and hugged him.

"Don't worry about me," she whispered in his ear and Harry felt a tingle again as Ginny pulled away and slipped out of the pub.

For the first few days of the holidays, Hermione and Ron watched Harry just in case he stopped denying that his now revealed godfather betrayed his parents and became consumed by rage, but Harry and Ginny were still convinced that something about the whole story seemed off. Soon enough it was Christmas Eve night and Harry was standing at the railing of the Astronomy Tower, holding the package that contained the necklace he bought for Ginny. Harry looked down at it as the snow started to fall on Hogwarts, thinking to himself:

'_Well it's Christmas Eve, Potter, you're committed to this course of action now and can only hope she returns these feelings. _He heard quiet footsteps coming up from behind him.

"Ginny? How did you know I was up here?" Harry asked turning around.

"I was looking at the map, and Ron and Hermione asked me to find you," Ginny said walking up to him.

"They still worried I'm going to just go off?" Harry sighed, and looked down at the package again.

"You do have a reputation for something of a temper," Ginny said with a smile. "What's that you're holding?"

"True, I do, but I've been thinking things through much more now thanks to Daphne," Harry said with a small smile. "And this is, well I guess you could call it a test."

"A test of what Harry?" Ginny said with a confused look.

"Why don't you open it and find out," Harry said handing her the package. Ginny took it with slightly shaking hands and she unwrapped the paper to find a plain black box with a brass hinge. Opening it she saw the necklace and her head snapped up to look at Harry, speechless.

"Do you like it?" Harry whispered.

"Harry, I, I don't know what to say; it's beautiful," Ginny whispered. "But I can't accept this, it must have cost a fortune and there's no way I could pay you back."

"Ginny, it's your Christmas gift, and if I want to spend my money on someone then I will and won't accept no for an answer," Harry stated clearly.

"But…" Ginny started to say when Harry cut her off by placing a finger over her lips.

"Just accept it Ginny," he muttered and the look in his eye was almost hypnotic to her.

"Do you want me to put it on you?" Harry whispered and Ginny nodded slowly still looking him in the eye. He took the necklace as Ginny pulled her long red hair away from her neck, turning around. Harry slowly put the necklace around her neck and clasped it shut, all the while his heart hammered.

Ginny turned back and looked at him, her eyes bright, and she noticed just how close they were standing as Harry hugged her close and she looked up into his bright green eyes that were pouring out an emotion that was causing her to become lost in their depths.

"Merry Christmas, Ginny" Harry whispered.

"Merry Christmas, Harry" Ginny whispered back while her heart was pounding hard against her ribcage. She knew something was about to happen.

"Ginny…" Harry whispered even quieter and he leaned his head forward and then their lips were pressed together. Everything in the world seemed to slow down to Ginny and fireworks were going off all around her as she and Harry kissed.

Harry pulled away a bit and whispered, "Will you be mine?"

"Yes, it will always be yes," Ginny whispered back as they kissed again. The snow around them was falling steadily, but neither of them noticed, because they finally had each other, and the confusion had been burned away.

**London**

Ryan Kemper walked up to a forbidding looking house, flanked by Abygail and Nicole as the snow fell all round them. The three of them walked up to the door and used the old gargoyle knocker to announce their presence. A shrieking could be heard inside followed by a thud, and then the door opened.

"Welcome to 12 Grimmauld Place," Sirius Black said. "Shall we get started?"


	8. The Best Gifts

Disclaimer: O.C.s are mine, oh and original spells too, other than that it's all J.K. Rowling's

WARNING: Some text from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban's chapter the Firebolt and the Patronus is included

Chapter 8: The Best Gifts

Stepping inside, Ryan, Abygail and Nicole walked into one of the dreariest places the girls had ever seen. The long hallway they stepped into had peeling wallpaper and they noticed a long line of house elf heads lining the wall. Hidden behind a pair of drapes, a large portrait could be seen and Nicole went to ask about it but Sirius held up a finger to his lips and gestured for them to follow him.

Following Sirius, Ryan and the girls walked into a large kitchen that had a large fire going. Sitting at the large wooden table was Professor Lupin, reading the _Daily Prophet_.

"Moony, looks like I'm extremely popular today; first you, now Ryan and his girls," Sirius said with a smile, sitting down.

"But Padfoot, don't you know we only came here to see what Kreacher was doing. I completely forgot you were here until you answered the door," Remus said with a chuckle. Sirius looked disappointed for a moment before they both burst out laughing.

"So why'd you want to see me? on Christmas Eve to boot. You were rather vague in your message." Sirius asked Ryan.

"Why, to ask you to join us on our Christmas day adventure," Ryan said with a chuckle and the girls giggled.

"An adventure you say," Sirius said, perking up while Remus groaned.

"You just had to say the word adventure," Remus said a bit forlornly.

"Yes, we need to gather some rather specific items for a ritual, and you make it sound like adventures are terrible," Ryan accused.

"I must ask the nature of the ritual if I'm to be of any help," Sirius said, but his eyes said he was already sold.

"A ritual to remove a shard of Voldemort's soul from Harry's scar," Ryan said with a straight face. Sirius' jaw dropped while Remus went white.

"You're pulling our legs," Sirius said after getting ahold of himself. "I mean Voldemort is evil, but if his soul shattered that only means one thing."

"He did it, Sirius, it's why no one could kill him last time," Ryan said sadly.

"Then I'm in," Sirius said standing up, "Anything to help destroy that bloody wanker."

"I'm in too," Remus said standing up as well.

"Excellent the more the merrier," Ryan said with a clap of his hands.

"But how are the girls going to be able to help? They can't use magic outside of school," Remus said with some confusion.

"Professor Lupin, we can use magic outside of school because Master Kemper got us an exemption, pluuussss we don't have the Trace on us to begin with," Nicole said with a bright smile.

Sirius and Remus just looked at each other, shrugged, and followed Ryan as he left the kitchen.

"So what exactly are we going to be gathering?" Remus asked as they walked out of the house.

"Blood of a dragon, a lifestone, the mist a dementor leaves behind when it dies and a soul gem," Abygail answered for Ryan. Remus looked surprised by the list while Sirius just had to chuckle a bit.

"So we have to go kill a dragon, delve into a crystal cave, destroy something that we haven't been able to kill and then visit an ancient cemetery," Sirius said while Nicole nodded fast.

"Yeppers, oh and you forgot the obvious that we are probably going to run into some nasty stuffs," Nicole said cheerfully.

"Where's the fun in an adventure if it's boring," Sirius said laughing. Remus groaned. "So where first?"

"There's a Swedish Short-Snout up in the mountains near Inverness that has been causing problems for some local wizard shepherds," Ryan said, bringing his wand up and saying _"Portus,"_ to a piece of crumpled paper on the ground.

The five of them grabbed the paper and the newly created Portkey spirited them off to the northern most reaches of Scotland. Landing, Sirius noticed that unlike a lot of younger wizards and witches, both Abygail and Nicole landed on their feet.

"The dragon's lair is just over this ridge," Ryan said as they grouped up on the edge and peered down into a small valley littered with the bones of animals.

"Please tell me it's not a nesting mother," Remus sighed surveying the bones. "That's a lot of bones even for a full grown dragon to have eaten."

"If I don't say anything, then you can assume it's whatever kind of dragon you want," Ryan said. Sirius and the girls snickered a bit as Remus sighed again.

"Nicole and I will deal with the hatchlings or drakes, while you older far more experienced wizards deal with the mother," Abygail said as she and Nicole leaped over the edge. Sirius, out of instinct, tried to stop them, but then his eyes widened as they slid down the side of the ridge using their heels.

"Come on, can't let my charges have all the fun," Ryan said jumping down after them. Looking at Remus, Sirius got a manic grin on his face and Apparated down to the floor of the valley.

Remus sighed and said to himself, "This is what I get for getting one of my best friends back," and he Apparated after Sirius. Reappearing, Remus saw a swarm of dragon hatchlings come out of the cave along with their mother, the older letting out a roar that shook the valley.

"Bring down the mother," Ryan yelled and he started throwing spears of ice at the mother's wings to keep her on the ground. Sirius immediately engaged the dragon by trying to hit its eyes with a Stunning spell or Conjunctivitis curse, while Remus provided support with Shield charms or Flame-Repelling charms. Ryan's ice spears did their job by slicing several long tears into the dragon's wings, causing her to roar in pain and rage, but now she couldn't take flight.

The dragon released a stream of fire at Ryan, but he dove out the way, rolled and fired off a spell from his hand that struck the dragon's claw. At first it appeared to do nothing but when the dragon tried to lift it, Remus saw the claw had been turned to stone; somehow the spell had gotten past the magical resistance dragon hide had. The dragon roared and let loose another stream of fire, but this time at Sirius who had to dive to the ground to avoid being roasted.

Sirius lifted his head up to see Abygail and Nicole firing off jets of light that were either freezing the hatchlings or petrifying them into statues, when one hatchling knocked Abygail's wand out of her hand, nearly taking her hand off with its claw. Abygail jumped backwards before the claw slash actually connected with flesh, flipped in the air and when she landed the gem on her necklace lit up. Abygail's eyes started to glow and she threw her hand out and a blast of electricity arced of it and blasted the offending hatchling, leaving a smoking hole in its chest. She then turned to a large drake and sent, to Sirius' surprise, a jet of magma at it, burning it away into nothing.

Nicole meanwhile was sliding around as if she was surfing, and Sirius noticed that it looked like water was forming underneath her feet. She launched several jets of concentrated water at a drake. The drake roared as the jets of water blasted it back into the cliff where part of the cliff fell on top of it, entombing it. He also noticed that the water lily on her headband was glowing, which seemed to be just like her sister's necklace. Sirius watched in shock as the sisters started to utterly destroy the hatchlings and drakes, completely bypassing the resistance in their hides. He shook his head, got to his feet again, and charged back into the fight against the mother.

Apparently seeing her young being wiped out had enraged her more, because she was releasing jet after jet of fire at Ryan and Remus, even rushing forward on its three good claws to try and slice them into ribbons. Remus had to dive out of the way of one jet of flames but a portion of his robes got caught in the jet of fire and he had to quickly douse them with an Aguamenti charm. Sirius, though, decided that it would be best to give Ryan and Remus an opening to kill it by casting an extremely bright _Lumos Maxima_.

The mother dragon, distracted by the bright light, started to move towards it when Ryan rushed forward, pulled a sword from within his robes, and, moving almost too fast for Sirius or Remus to see, slid underneath the dragon and sliced through its underbelly, felling the beast.

"Well that was fun," Abygail said walking over to the adults with her sister, all the hatchlings and drakes either frozen or destroyed.

"I wouldn't necessarily consider that fun, Abygail," Remus said looking at his singed robes.

"Come on Moony, that was the most alive I've felt in years," Sirius said laughing.

"Even if you are out of practice, the stories Master Kemper told us…" Nicole said with an innocent smile while Sirius chuckled.

"Give me a few months more to recover and I'll be back at my Auror prime," Sirius said laughing.

"If you all are done bantering, I need help collecting all of the blood," Ryan snapped at the four talking. The sisters blanched and bowed before rushing over to help Ryan, while Sirius and Remus conjured some vials. Working together, the five were able to gather most, if not all of the blood into several vials.

"This should easily be enough," Ryan said as he put the last vial into a conjured box that he then vanished away.

"What about the hide? A Dragon's hide is extremely useful for resisting most spells and the Aurors could use it for their robes," Sirius said eyeing the dead drakes and the mother dragon.

"Harvest it if you want Sirius," Ryan said pulling out his watch and seeing it was three o'clock on Christmas morning. "We have plenty of time before sunrise."

Sirius and Remus quickly moved back to the dragon's body and while they were busy, Ryan gestured for Abygail and Nicole to join him.

"They haven't asked yet, but revealing the charms now was not in the initial plan," Ryan said with a slight scolding tone to his voice.

Both sisters bowed and Abygail whispered, "I could always wipe their minds of seeing the charms active, Master."

Ryan was silent for a moment, stroking his goatee before he shook his head and said, "No we will just get them to swear secrecy oaths. But I will say you two are coming along in your studies quite well."

"Thank you Master," both girls said together.

"All done," Sirius said happily as he and Remus banished the folds of dragon hide back to Grimmauld Place.

"So where next, a crystal cave for the lifestone, or the cemetery for the soul gem?" Remus asked.

"I think the crystal caves in Wales will be quite sufficient for the task," Ryan said before picking up a sheep's skull and muttering, _'Portus.'_

"Really, Ryan? Why not a rock instead of some poor animal's skull for the Portkey?" Remus asked with a slightly disgusted look at the skull.

"Fine, then next time a Portkey needs to be made you make it, Remus," Ryan snapped but in a good natured way. All five of them gathered around put a finger on the Portkey and with the usual hooking feeling behind the navel, they were all whisked away.

Landing in Wales, Sirius noticed that all he could see was the strait between Ireland and Britain.

"Where are we?" Sirius asked.

"We are on the very tip of Wales, on the Pembrokeshire Coast to be more exact, and directly underneath us is the largest crystal cavern network in Britain," Ryan answered as though he was teaching a young student.

"So that answers that question, how about this one, how do we get into the caverns?" Remus asked. "If I recall there is no entrance to the caverns in this part of Wales."

"There is a small entrance in the side of the cliff we will be using," Ryan said walking over to the edge.

"Not to be a downer or anything, that's Moony's job as the responsible one," Sirius said while expertly ignoring the look Remus shot him, "but how are we going to reach that entrance without brooms?"

"Why we simply jump," Ryan said with a straight face. The girls had to laugh at the dumbfounded expressions on the two Marauders. "There's a small ledge right at the entrance that can't be seen if looked at from below or straight on, but trust me on this."

With that said, Ryan flipped over the cliff side and the girls followed. Remus and Sirius glanced at each other, and then hurried over to look down to see Ryan and his charges standing maybe ten meters down waiting for them.

"Moony, if this fall kills me, I want you to know it was I who put that Itching Powder in your trousers third year, not Prongs," Sirius said with a serious look.

"What?! I thought for sure he did it, Prongs even admitted to doing it, you cheeky old dog, I'll get revenge for that yet," Remus said with a nasty look at Sirius, who smiled mischievously and jumped off the cliff. Remus followed and was caught by a Levitation Charm by one of the girls and was gently put down. He did notice that Sirius had landed in an undignified heap at Abygail's feet, who was wearing an innocent expression as he got up grumbling to himself.

"Onwards," Ryan said leading the way into the passage with his wand out and lit. Following Ryan, Sirius and Remus looked around in awe at the large crystalline structures on the wall of the tunnel they were walking down, while the girls brought up the rear and had become rather quiet. Reaching the first cavern, Ryan suddenly stopped and frowned.

"What is it Ryan?" Sirius asked stepping next to Ryan to survey the cavern.

"Something feels incredibly wrong here, the peace and tranquility of this place has been disturbed," Ryan said quietly.

"Perhaps by our arrival?" Remus asked.

"No, something incredibly evil has happened here," Ryan muttered. "Wands out everyone, no telling what's here now."

Splitting up, the five started to examine the cavern closely, looking for signs of what had happened. The light from Ryan's wand fell upon a splatter of blood against one crystal and he was about to comment on it when Abygail stopped and stared at a certain crystal formation.

"Master, everyone, I just found a lifestone," Abygail said as she reached up and pried the lifestone loose. The lifestone seemed to pulse with an inner light and looked like an orange-red diamond.

"Excellent, the sooner we leave this place the better, but we may need to come back to investigate further," Ryan said as Abygail and the others grouped up in the center of the cavern. As they all turned to leave though, several shadows rose out of the ground and took on a semi-solid form made of black smoke.

Nicole and Abygail both gasped while Sirius and Remus took on hardened looks at the sight of the creatures.

"Shades, that can only mean someone trapped these poor souls in darkness when they killed them," Ryan spat out.

"Do you like them, Ryan Kemper?" a voice said that echoed around the chamber. "I made them myself. A clan of goblins had decided to make this part of the caverns their home out of greed; I feel I did a civic duty in protecting these crystals from being harvested."

"Murder of innocents is never a civic duty even to preserve unique places in nature," Ryan said looking around for the source of the voice.

"In your point of view. In mine it was simply an opportune moment" the voice said with a malicious laugh. Behind the shades, the five were just able to notice a figure standing in the shadows of the tunnel entrance they had come down, but they couldn't make out any discerning features.

"Now I must be off, much to prepare for plans to be set on simmer for the long haul, but before I go…" the figure called out with another evil chuckle. He put his hand on the ground and a large arcane circle appeared where his hand was. Ryan and the girls looked horrified as a red beam of energy that had moving shadows trapped within it shot out of it. The beam of light convulsed and a humanoid creature emerged, landing on the ground. Ryan swore violently and the girls actually looked a bit frightened. Sirius and Remus were confused by their reactions. The creature had chalk white skin and large horns protruding from its head and its hands and feet ended in large claws. The creature's black wings were folded up behind it and its spiked tailed whipped around on the floor.

"A parting gift and a sort of test," the figure said as it disappeared into shadow and smoke.

"What is that thing?" Remus whispered to Ryan, while Sirius was eyeing the shades that hadn't attacked yet.

"A Misery Demon," Ryan muttered. "They can only be summoned by those who have only darkness in their hearts; we must be thankful it's only a Misery Demon and not others further up the power scale."

The Misery Demon examined its surroundings for a moment then let loose a wave of black energy that surrounded the shades. The demon roared out a command in some unnatural tongue and the shades surged forward, determined to kill the entire group. The group braced themselves for battle, when Ryan called out to the girls.

"I hate to say this, but, activate them now," he yelled and the girls nodded. Abygail's necklace started to glow and she started lobbing large balls of fire at the shades, destroying two shades immediately. Nicole's water lily started shining as well and she flash-froze a shade then made the frozen shade shatter by clenching her fist. Both Remus and Sirius were surprised by these displays of power, but they got caught up in the struggle of desperately fighting the remaining shades while Ryan focused containing the demon.

Remus got backed into a corner by a few shades, and, seeing no other alternative, he twisted his ring and let his werewolf form take over. He roared in defiance and leapt at the nearest shade, shredding it with his claws. Sirius, who had been helping the Ericson sisters box in a few shades so they could be destroyed, noticed the trapped werewolf and quickly went to help Remus. Slashing his wand in an arc, Sirius cried out, _'Ignis __Excoriare' _and a flame whip erupted out of the tip and wrapped around a shade. The shade that was trapped writhed in a silent scream and collapsed into dust, drawing the attention of two other shades that rushed towards Sirius.

Before he could react, the werewolf charged and took down the shades heading for Sirius. Sirius nodded his thanks while Remus changed back into his human form with a wide grin.

"Okay I admit, this is fun now," Remus said and Sirius barked out a laugh.

"Let's help the girls finish off these dusty relics," Sirius said and the two Marauders charged in, firing spells while Ryan engaged the Misery Demon, who had broken free of his containment.

The demon threw a large black sphere at Ryan, who barely dove out of the way. The sphere impacted against the wall and disintegrated that portion of it. The demon threw several more black spheres at Ryan, who kept dodging them. Noticing several crystal shards lying around Ryan lifted his hand and sent several of them flying towards it. The demon deflected the shards with a swipe of its claw and it let loose a stream of black energy that twisted towards Ryan. He had to throw a shield up to absorb the beam and staggered back from the force of the attack. The demon then held up its claws and a black and deep purple light started to form above it.

Meanwhile, the girls and the Marauders had destroyed most of the shades, but the remaining ones were proving evasive. Getting fed up, Abygail yelled out, "Chain Fire," and several lances of fire erupted from her hand to spear two more shades. From the two shades, the fire lances arced out of them and towards a few of the other shades, who dodged by slinking in and out of the shadows. Remus and Sirius both cried out, _'Expecto Patronum,'_ and a large wolf and dog charged into the shadows to force the shades out into the open. Nicole and Abygail then called out different things, Abygail yelling, "Flame Pillar," while her sister yelled, "Water Pillar."

Geysers of fire and water erupted from around the girls and destroyed the remaining shades, leaving behind just piles of ash. Meanwhile, Ryan continued to engage the demon, but he was getting nowhere.

The black and purple light kept crashing down in a beam of energy every time Ryan tried to get close enough to kill it, the beams twisting and warping the floor it hit into puddles of darkness. Ryan drew his sword out again, but instead of going for a physical strike and being repulsed again, he swung his sword in an arc and a blade of white energy sliced out towards the demon, striking it across the shoulder and severing an arm.

The demon roared out defiantly, but before it could muster its energy for another attack, Abyagil and Nicole came to Ryan's aid with both calling out, "Sanctus," and two beams of pure white energy engulfed the demon and when the beams faded there was nothing left but a small black gem.

Silence reigned for a moment, and then Sirius broke it.

"What the hell is going on?" Sirius said falling into a sitting position.

"I agree with Padfoot, you three I think owe us an explanation," Remus said joining Sirius on the floor.

Abygail, Nicole, and Ryan shared a look before they all turned to face the Marauders. and Ryan said, "You're right Remus, we do owe you all an explanation, but now is not the time or the place. I promise that eventually we will reveal everything. Suffice to say, my charges have special items only described in myth that give them powers beyond normal comprehension."

"Alright, but we are going to hold you to that. Especially about these very unique accessories," Sirius said, getting shakily to his feet. "So, shall we head to the graveyard for the soul gem?"

"No need now," Abygail said walking over to the small gem the demon left behind upon its destruction. "The demon left behind a soul gem."

"And just in time, the sun is about to rise," Ryan said. "We all best be returning to where we will be celebrating Christmas. Remus, the girls and I will see you at Hogwarts. And please do not say anything to anyone about what the girls did, or we may have to take action." With that, Ryan and the girls disappeared in different colors of flashes.

"Moony, old friend, I feel like things are going to get out of hand soon," Sirius sighed out.

"Padfoot, that nose you have for trouble is spot on, I think," Remus agreed and they both Apparated away to Grimmauld Place.

**Hogwarts**

Harry was lying in bed, thinking about what had happened up on the Astronomy Tower and couldn't help but have a huge grin on his face and warmth all throughout his body.

After they had broken away from the second kiss, Harry and Ginny had snuck back to Gryffindor Tower, even though it was the holidays and curfew wasn't enforced. Walking hand in hand, they had spent a long time getting back to the tower, whispering about everything, but especially when Harry had started to fall for Ginny and she had felt obligated to tell Harry when she had fallen for him. They both had decided to come in at different times so as not to arouse any Weasley brother suspicion, as Ginny and Harry had come to an understanding that for now, they needed to hide the fact they were now dating. Both knew that Fred and George would be fine, but it was more to hide it from Ron who they knew would fly off the handle.

Interrupting his thoughts about the night, Ron suddenly threw Harry's curtains aside and yelled out, "Presents!"

Grumbling, Harry reached for his glasses in the semi-dark dormitory and put them on. Squinting through the darkness, he could make out a large pile of presents at the foot of his four-poster bed. Ron was already tearing the paper off his first present.

"Another sweater from Mum….maroon again…see if you've got one," Ron said.

Harry had indeed gotten the annual Weasley sweater, which was scarlet with a gold Gryffindor lion, and also a dozen home-baked mince pies, a Christmas cake, and a box of nut brittle. Aso Harry moved these packages aside, he saw a long, thin package lying underneath.

"Wonder what's in there?" Ron said looking over while holding a new pair of maroon socks in his hand.

"No idea," Harry said pulling the package closer. Ripping the parcel open, Harry and Ron gasped as a magnificent, gleaming broomstick rolled out onto his bedspread. Ron dropped his socks and jumped onto Harry's bed for a closer look.

"I don't believe it," Ron hoarsely whispered.

It was a Firebolt, just like the one that had been on display at Quality Quidditch Supplies in Diagon Alley. Harry could only stare at the slightly hovering broom, taking in every feature.

"Who sent it to you?" Ron said in a whisper while staring reverently at the Firebolt like it was the most beautiful thing Ron had ever seen.

"Look and see if there's a card," Harry said and they both tore through the package. Ron pulled out a small note.

"Found it," he said, handing it to Harry.

"Hey, it's from Mr. Padfoot," Harry said as he opened the note to read it.

_Dear Harry,_

_Here's the answer to what I meant by my Christmas gift, hope you enjoy it and consider it as a way to repay you for all the missed birthdays and Christmases the last twelve years._

_Sincerely,_

_Mr. Padfoot_

"I can't believe he spent this much on me, I barely know him," Harry whispered.

"He must have been some friend of your dad's then," Ron said. Then a thought occurred to him. "Harry, can you imagine the look on Malfoy's face when he sees you have a Firebolt?" Smiling gleefully, he started going off on a rant about how Malfoy would be green with envy over the international standard broom, but Harry was thinking something else.

Something Ron had just said had sparked off an idea in Harry's head. _'If Mr. Padfoot was such a close friend of my dad's, then maybe he knew Sirius Black.' _Ron obviously thought Harry was agreeing with what he said, when he noticed Harry nodding his head.

"Glad you agree that this secures the Cup for us now," Ron said with a grin.

"Uh sure Ron," Harry said, not mentioning what he had been thinking as Ron was still nervous whenever the subject of Sirius Black came up.

"What are you two so happy about?" Hermione said walking in holding Crookshanks with Ginny following her inside.

"Don't bring that bloody cat in here, Scabbers is trying to rest," Ron said hurriedly grabbing Scabbers and putting the rat in his pocket. While Ron did that, Harry and Ginny shared a long look that, unbeknownst to them, Hermione caught.

"Harry, who sent you that?" Ginny gasped when she saw the Firebolt lying on the bed.

"Mr. Padfoot sent it to make up for all the times he missed my birthday and Christmas," Harry explained to Ginny and Hermione.

"Wow, that has to be the best Christmas gift you got this year," Hermione said while Harry smiled.

"I don't know Hermione, I can think of something else that would be better," Harry said sending a secretive smile at Ginny.

"Oh of course," Hermione said, obviously thinking he was referring to his parents. While they were talking, Crookshanks had been eyeing Ron's quivering pocket and suddenly leapt at him.

"GET HIM OUT OF HERE," Ron yelled as Crookshanks clawed his pajamas to shreds and Scabbers scrambled over Ron's shoulder to get away. Ron took off after Scabbers as he ran out of the dorm and Crookshanks streaked after.

"Crookshanks get back here," Hermione called out and chased after her cat, leaving Harry and Ginny alone.

"No interrogation yet?" Harry asked Ginny as she walked over to him and hugged him tightly.

"Not yet, but then she hasn't noticed I'm beyond happy yet," Ginny said with a large smile. "But I think you forgot something."

"And what would that be?" Harry asked tilting his head quizzically.

"A good Christmas morning kiss for your girlfriend," Ginny said.

"Now can't go forgetting that can I?" Harry said and he bent down and kissed Ginny on the lips.

Breaking apart from the kiss, Harry and Ginny were looking into each other's' eyes when someone cleared their throat.

"As much as I dislike breaking up such a romantic scene, you two should get ready," Abygail said, standing in the doorway and smiling at the mortified pair.

"Abygail, uh, please don't tell anyone," Harry begged and Ginny nodded vigorously.

"Sure, I mean I was hoping you two would get together. Well I gotta go collect some Galleons from my sister; I told her you would get together by Christmas," Abygail said as she waltzed away, humming a Christmas melody.

"Why am I not surprised she would find out?" Harry sighed while Ginny giggled.

"Maybe because I told her I was head over heels for you, remember she did Bat-Bogie Ron," Ginny said laughing while Harry snickered.

"Alright, we should go make sure those two don't kill each other because of their pets," Ginny said as she got up, got one last kiss from Harry and left him to get showered and dressed.

Christmas spirit was definitely on the thin side between Ron and Hermione for the rest of the morning. Apparently, Ron had tried to kick Crookshanks down in the common room and Hermione was furious with him about that, while Ron was fuming over this latest attempt on Scabbers' life. The twins, Percy, and the two Ericson sisters had joined Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione in the common room for some games and to talk about presents when Ron asked if anyone was up for a game of chess.

"I'll play you Ron," Abygail said with a smile. "You did say you would crush me at your game right?"

Nicole snickered at her sister's comment and Ron smirked and said, "Of course I remember and I'm going to prove it."

"A Knut on Ron," Fred whispered to George.

"You're on," George said and they shook hands and Abygail and Ron sat down at the chess table.

"White moves first," Abygail said with a smile and moved the pawn above her king up one square.

"Please, I'll show you a real move," Ron said moving his pawn in front of his left rook up two spaces.

Abygail just smiled and moved her right hand bishop up to C4.

Ron just looked at her move, smirked hugely and moved his rook up to behind the pawn that he had previously moved.

Abygail moved her queen out to F3 and smiled, while Ron looked smug and said, "Amateur move, getting your queen out so early."

"You so sure?" Abygail asked.

"Completely," Ron said as he moved his right hand knight out to C6.

Abygail smiled, moved her queen up to take Ron's pawn at F7 and said quietly, "Checkmate."

Ron gaped for a moment and moved his head around the board to see if he could do anything, while the twins roared with laughter.

"That's impossible, you beat me in four moves," Ron said furiously.

"Yep it's called the Shepard's Checkmate, rather a basic opener in the Muggle world, so much so a lot of people counter it immediately," Abygail said standing up. "Well, got some reading I wanted to get done before lunch. See ya." Abygail walked away while Nicole laughed at Ron's expression and followed her sister.

Ron just got up and walked back upstairs in a stupor. Harry excused himself to go after and cheer him up before lunch. The twins also said they wanted to go exploring the castle and would meet up later, and Percy said he was going to the library, leaving Ginny and Hermione alone temporarily in the common room.

Ginny was smiling to herself when Hermione cleared her throat expectantly.

Ginny froze and glanced at her best friend, but, trying to play it off, simply asked, "What Hermione?"

"I was just wondering when you were going to tell me about you and Harry," Hermione said with a huge know-it-all grin.

"No idea what you mean Hermione," Ginny said, but her blush started to betray her.

"Really? Because you waltzed back into the tower with the happiest smile I've ever seen and the necklace you had on wasn't there when you left," Hermione said.

"Alright, he gave me my Christmas present early and well…" her voice trailed off as her blush grew more intense.

"Did you kiss?" Hermione asked and Ginny's red face and dreamy smile was all the answer she needed.

"I'm happy for you Ginny," Hermione said with a smile. "I think you'll both be positive influences to each other."

"One could hope," Ginny quipped as the boys came back down the stairs, Ron still looking a bit morose.

At lunchtime, the Weasleys, the Ericson sisters, Harry, and Hermione, walked down to the Great Hall to see that all the House tables had been pushed to the side and instead a single table seated for twenty stood in the middle of the room. Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, Sprout, Flitwick, Lupin and Kemper were there along with Filch, the caretaker, in his moldy-looking tailcoat. Three other students were also seated at the table, two extremely anxious first-years from Hufflepuff and a bored Slytherin fifth year.

"Merry Christmas!" Dumbledore called out cheerfully as the group of Gryffindors approached the table. "As there are so few of us, it seemed foolish to use the House tables, come, sit down and be merry."

The group moved to sit down, and Harry and Ginny sat down next to each other while the others filled in around them.

"Crackers!" Dumbledore said enthusiastically, offering the end of a large silver noisemaker to Snape, who took it and pulled hard on it. With a loud bang, the cracker flew apart to reveal a large, pointed witch's hat topped with a stuffed vulture.

Snape immediately got an extremely annoyed look on his face, clearly remembering the boggart, and pushed the hat towards Dumbledore, who happily swapped it for his wizard's hat.

"Dig in!" Dumbledore advised the table, beaming around as food appeared.

As Harry was helping himself to roast potatoes, while occasionally bumping his hand or leg against Ginny's, the doors to the Great Hall opened again. It was Professor Trelawney, gliding towards them as if she were floating. She had on a green sequined dress with a red shawl in honor of the occasion, which gave her even more of an appearance of an oversized dragonfly.

"Sibyll, what a pleasant surprise!" Dumbledore said standing up.

"I was crystal gazing, Headmaster, when I was surprised to see myself leaving the quiet solitude of my rooms to join you," Professor Trelawney said mystically. "And who am I to ignore the promptings of fate, so I do beg your forgiveness for my lateness."

"Certainly, certainly," Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eye, "allow me to draw you up a seat."

And he indeed drew a chair in midair with his wand, which spun for a few seconds then landed with a large thud between Professor McGonagall and Kemper. Professor Trelawney took her seat and Professor McGonagall passed her a large tureen.

"Tripe, Sibyll?"

Professor Trelawney ignored her. Eyes staring around, she looked around and noticing Lupin, she said, "Remus, on the subject of crystal gazing perhaps you would like to rethink your decision, foresight of the future is always useful."

"No, I'm sorry, but I'll have to once again pass," Lupin said, while Professor McGonagall snorted.

"Surely you knew what his answer was going to be Sibyll?" Professor McGonagall asked.

Professor Trelawney glared at Professor McGonagall.

"Certainly I knew Minerva, but one does not parade the fact they are All-Knowing. I frequently act as though I do not possess the Inner-Eye, so as not to make others nervous in my presence," Professor Trelawney said.

"That explains so much," Professor Kemper said, interjecting into the conversation and causing both Snape and McGonagall to snort into their plates.

Professor Trelawney glared at him with open hostility and her voice suddenly became a lot less misty.

"If you must know, Ryan, that crystal-gazing is a legitimate way of seeing the future," Trelawney snapped at him. "Why if you knew half the things I'd seen you would…"

Professor Kemper cut her off by saying, "I'm sure I'd be resorting to sherry too, Sibyll. Crystal-gazing gets one nowhere but a headache, while scrying is much more useful and allows one to actually select what they see."

"I believe that's enough, you two," Dumbledore said cheerfully, but there was an edge to his voice that brooked no argument. "You both have valid points, but for now it's Christmas and let us enjoy the festivities." Turning to one of the first years, Dumbledore asked, "Derek would you like to try some of these chipolatas, they are quite good."

The first year named Derek blushed intensely from being addressed by the headmaster that way, but he accepted the plate of sausages from Dumbledore.

The next few hours were spent enjoying the festivities and party favors that littered the table. Harry had pulled a large exaggerated pair of glasses that he swapped for his own, while Ginny had pulled a cracker that emitted a puff of smoke that turned her hair red and green, causing the twins to roar in laughter. Hermione, Abygail, Percy and Professors Lupin and Kemper were discussing how next semester's classes would be much harder to anticipate exams, while Snape and McGonagall were engaged in a pitched battle of tag team chess against Professors Flitwick and Sprout from a silver chess set that someone had pulled while Ron watched. Nicole had taken to randomly singing Muggle Christmas carols and occasionally the Weasley twins would join in with their own hilarious lyrics.

Dumbledore watched all of this and couldn't help but inwardly smile and think, _'the holidays are always a time to break the barriers we build over the year, and to put aside differences.' _Looking over at Harry and how close he was to Ginny as they laughed and pulled crackers and made jokes at their best friends, Dumbledore hoped beyond hoped that Ryan's ritual would work. Because seeing this young love starting to form and flourish was what he had always hoped Harry would receive and he knew this was truly the power he would have that Voldemort would know not.

The last few days of term passed in a blur of catching up on schoolwork that had been neglected at the start of break. Hermione was particularly fierce about making sure Harry, Ron and Ginny were completely focused on work so Harry had not had a chance to fly on the Firebolt or spend time with Ginny secretly. Harry also talked to Oliver Wood about his new broom, and Wood excitedly said he would be hosting reserve tryouts the first week back. By the day before classes started, Harry, Hermione and Ginny had finished their work while Ron was scrambling to finish all his essays that he had put off so he was up until the wee hours of the morning.

Classes started up again the next day. The third years didn't want to spend two hours out on the grounds, but Hagrid had provided a large bonfire full of salamanders and they spent all of class gathering up dry wood to keep it going. Divination was starting to wear on Harry's patience though, because Professor Trelawney was now constantly predicting his ever-approaching doom. Harry was keener on the first Defense Against the Dark Arts, because he wanted to learn how to fight off a dementor as soon as possible.

"Ah yes," Professor Lupin said when Harry reminded him of his promise after class. "Let me see, I'm free at eight o'clock on Thursday and I believe the History of Magic classroom shall be empty."

"How exactly are we going to practice?" Harry asked, knowing full well Dumbledore would never allow a real dementor into the school.

"I shall have to comb the school for another boggart," Professor Lupin said with a smile. "I imagine there is one lurking around somewhere."

"Great, then my friends and I will see you then Professor," said Harry with a grin.

"Oh yes, should be very informative," Professor Lupin said with a chuckle as Harry walked out of the classroom to where Ron and Hermione were waiting outside.

"Lupin said Thursday at eight," Harry said as he, Ron and Hermione walked to dinner.

"Should be exciting, but probably a real challenge; I've been reading about the Patronus Charm and they're incredibly advanced," Hermione gushed out. "Although I have to wonder how the boggart is going to stay a dementor, as we all have different fears, like Professor Lupin's fear of the moon."

"Why would Professor Lupin be afraid of the moon? It's not like it's going to fall out of the sky." Ron guffawed as they entered the Great Hall.

"It's obvious Ron," Hermione said in a lofty voice. "The signs are all there, although I wonder why he hasn't missed any of them."

"Missed what?" Harry asked, but before Hermione could answer, Wood came running up to him.

"Reserve tryouts are set for Wednesday after classes, Potter," said Wood. "I want the whole team there so we can see how the chemistry works out, but also so we can all see what exactly that new broom of yours can do for us."

"Sounds fine to me, Cap," Harry said with huge grin as he and Ginny had talked about her trying out for a Chaser position.

"Excellent, well must be off, still have to find Fred and George," Wood said as he sped off, not even bothering to get dinner.

"Boys and their Quidditch," Hermione muttered to herself.

Wednesday came fast and Harry was walking down to the Quidditch Pitch with Ginny with his Firebolt slung over his shoulder and in his Quidditch gear.

"Excited Gin?" Harry asked his girlfriend.

"Of course, I can't wait to show those prats that they shouldn't have left me out of the family games," Ginny said with a large smile.

"Are you coming tomorrow night to our Patronus lesson?" Harry asked her before they entered the pitch.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world; I get the chance to have a 'class' with you," Ginny said with a slight blush.

"I'm touched," Harry said with a grin and he leaned down and discreetly kissed her. "That's for saying that and for luck."

"Why thank you, Mr. Potter," Ginny said with a small smile, while inside her ten-year old self was still doing somersaults in joy every time they kissed. Continuing onto the pitch, Ginny walked over to join the other hopefuls, which included her brother Ron. Ron was, needless to say, annoyed to see her.

"Ginny, what the heck are you doing here, you can't even fly?!" Ron yelled.

"I'm here for the same reason you are, to try and make the reserves. And how do you know I can't fly?" Ginny said acidly.

Before Ron could retort and someone had to intervene in what was likely going to be a sibling battle, Wood called for quiet.

"Alright, alright settle down, Fred, George so help me I will make you bat Bludgers back without bats if you do that again," Wood yelled out and the twins grinned sheepishly back at him as they stopped jumping over the other as they rode a broom.

"First off, I want to thank you all for coming out, especially in this weather, but as this the weather we will be practicing in it's for the best," Wood said starting to pace. "As the notice on the message board said, we are looking for reserves in case one of our Chasers or myself get injured in the coming games, so we will be seeing how well you fly and play with the team. That being said, I believe Chasers shall go first, then we will have Keepers. So Chasers mount up and we will see what you can do."

Smiling innocently at her brothers, Ginny walked over with the rest of the potential Chasers, mounted her Cleansweep Five, and kicked off hard, sailing into the sky. Deciding to shock her brothers, Ginny did a point turn in the air and sped down towards them. Seeing the shocked expressions on their faces, she smiled to herself and hovered a good distance above them and called down, "What was that dear brother, I couldn't hear you over the wind."

Ginny noticed the smile on Harry's face as he and the rest of the Quidditch team flew up to join the candidates. Wood seemed excited by her small demonstration and called out loudly, "Ginny, I think you'll be first to tryout, if you can make five goals and work well together with the others you've got one of the three Chaser spots. Start when I send up red sparks," the last bit was directed at all of the candidates.

Ginny grinned as the Quaffle was thrown to her by Wood as he sped off to the goalposts. Gripping it securely, she silently waited for the signal with the actual team Chasers and focused in on her task. _'Five goals on the best Keeper at Hogwarts, five goals on the best Keeper at Hogwarts,'_ Ginny kept repeating in her head until everything in her mind had blanked except for that specific goal, even thoughts of Harry being eclipsed by it. Wood reached the goalposts and, turning, launched red sparks into the air. The Chasers were off.

Ginny sped off and shot a no look pass at Angelina, who caught it and passed it to Katie, who passed it to Alicia, who passed it back to Katie. Katie sped off towards Wood with the Quaffle and just as she went to take the shot, she doubled backed it with a pass to Ginny, who faked it left and threw the Quaffle through the unguarded right goalpost. Wood retrieved the Quaffle and threw it back to Angelina, who zoomed off to the far side of the pitch and the Chasers regrouped on her to make another run.

Nodding at Ginny, Angelina passed it to her again and the process repeated. It quickly became obvious that Ginny had great chemistry with the Chasers and Harry couldn't help but smile. While not every shot against Wood was a goal, it was obvious that Ginny would be a force to be reckoned with and had most certainly locked up a reserve spot. The twins flew over to where Harry was watching Ginny score for the fourth time and asked him, "Harry ol' boy, do you know how Ginny is channeling Wilda Griffiths?"

"She may have mentioned that she's been sneaking out to your broom shed at night, picking the lock and taking your brooms out for a fly since she was five," Harry said with a grin at the twins' dumbfounded faces.

"Fred, I do believe our dear sister has just reached a new level of prankster," George said to his twin.

"Indubitably," Fred agreed as they watched Ginny zoomed by with Katie and Alicia flanking her. Flipping the Quaffle between them so quickly that it was hard to keep track of who would end up with it, the trio reached Wood and Ginny did one move she had been dying to try. She flipped and swung her broom like a Beater's bat at the Quaffle and sent it flying past Wood's outstretched hand through the goal. As she fell, Ginny remounted her broom and was able to fly off and land on the ground and the other Gryffindor team members landed for a verdict a bit away from her.

"Well I think I speak for all of us, but we three vote Ginny," Angelina said and the other two Chasers nodded.

"Ginny, hands down," Fred said in slight awe of his sister for the last shot.

"I concur with my esteemed brother," George chimed in.

"Ginny, especially after that last move," Harry said while also thinking Ginny was getting a good kiss for that.

"And I shall make it unanimous," Wood said and he turned and motioned Ginny over. Ginny ran over, a bit out of breath from flying so much, knowing she was in for some aches tomorrow, and she waited to hear the verdict.

"We all agreed that...you are the first reserve Chaser," Wood said and Ginny's face lit up with a look of pure happiness that Harry had only seen her give on Christmas Eve. "You'll be joining us for every practice so be prepared for the rigors of training, congrats," Wood said and Ginny nodded, a bit in a daze. "Alright who's next?"

Ginny went and sat in the stands next to Hermione, who smiled at her and congratulated her, and the two Ericson sisters, who both shook Ginny's hand. Ginny felt a slight rush from when Abygail shook her hand, but didn't think anything of it because she was still feeling the high from making the team. Ginny was soon joined in the reserve by Faye Dunbar, one of the other third year Gryffindor girls, and Demelza Robins, one of Ginny's roommates who she hadn't really talked to before. Ron barely edged out a fourth year named Cormac McLaggen for the reserve Keeper position and Wood said Ron would need some work before he was up to playing at full speed with the others.

Walking back with her new teammates, Ginny couldn't help but walk back next to Harry, brushing her hand against his several times and smiling, grateful for everything that had been going her way. Reaching the school and going their separate ways, Harry pulled Ginny into an alcove on the walk back so no one could see them for a moment.

"You were incredible Ginny," Harry whispered and Ginny couldn't help but blush at both the praise and how close they were standing.

"Thanks Harry," Ginny muttered out.

"I think being that incredible deserves a reward," Harry whispered and before she could say she didn't need a reward, playing was enough for her, Harry had captured her lips in a kiss that shutdown any protests on her part, but it didn't go unnoticed by a certain Slytherin blonde, who smiled at her friends' happiness.

Later that night, Abygail slipped into an unused classroom to find Daphne waiting for her.

"So, what do you want to learn at this first tutoring lesson for lack of a better term?" Abygail asked.

"I've noticed that you and your sister seem to have an innate ability to know things going on that even I never notice," Daphne said and Abygail smiled.

"It's something called Battle Precognition, a skill that is taught to American Aurors so they know what is happening on the battlefield, but it does have uses outside of battle," Abygail explained.

"How does it work?" Daphne asked, sitting on one of the desks.

"Basically it involves sensing the movement of things and people around you, even things as small as the breeze or the whir of an insect's wings, I could go into the tiny minute details but that's Master Kemper's job," Abygail said.

"Two questions, how do you actually do it and Master Kemper?" Daphne asked, curious about why Abygail called Professor Kemper master.

"Well to answer the second part first, he is my master and I'm his apprentice, same with my sister," Abygail said. "As for the first, it's hard to learn at first as it involves entering a semi-meditative state and it takes a while to slip into the first time, but once you get the gist of it, you can slip in and out at will."

Daphne was nodding at this and had to ask now, "How do you start the meditation?"

"Just be silent, let your mind still into a flat surface, slow breathing, and try and reach out with your senses to take in everything around you," Abygail said quietly. Daphne nodded and sat cross-legged on the floor and started to slowly breathe with her eyes closed. At first, Daphne couldn't stop her mind from wondering if this was going to work and other thoughts, but eventually she was able to quiet her mind and tried to strain her senses.

Abygail watched quietly as Daphne meditated and she noticed a slight stirring in the shadows around the room. _'Not much longer now, and this should accelerate things.' _

At eight o'clock on Thursday, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville and Luna met up in front of the History of Magic classroom and headed inside, chatting amongst themselves. Harry and Hermione quickly lit the lamps in the room and were busy catching up with Luna when Professor Lupin arrived levitating a large trunk in front of him.

"What's that?" asked Hermione as Professor Lupin set the trunk down gingerly in front of Professor Binns' desk.

"Another boggart I happened to find in a cabinet down in dungeon three," Lupin replied, taking off his robe so he was just in his suit. "Now when we open the lid, the boggart will come out and assume the shape of a dementor, as that's the closest thing we can practice on."

Hermione raised her hand and the others had to snicker a bit when Professor Lupin smiled and said kindly, "Hermione there's no need to raise your hand while we are here."

Hermione looked a bit sheepish as she put her hand down, but still asked, "But Professor Lupin, how is the boggart going to be a dementor when we have different fears?"

Lupin smiled and answered by saying, "You really are the cleverest witch of your age, the boggart would normally take on the shape we fear the most, but I've placed a spell on this one that it will be stuck between its natural state and the first thing it transforms into so Harry will have to be first."

"Fine with me professor," Harry answered with an uneasy grin as he did feel nervous about this, but Ginny discreetly gave his hand a reassuring squeeze.

"So…, the spell I'm going to be teaching you all is called the Patronus Charm. This charm is highly advanced magic, far beyond O.W.L. levels, so don't be discouraged if you have a difficult time learning it," Lupin explained.

"How does it work?" Neville asked.

"Well, when it works correctly, it forms a Patronus, which I suppose one could describe as anti-dementor, a guardian that shields you from a dementor," Lupin stated with a smile. At this the group got images in their heads of massive creatures the size of Hagrid fighting off the dementor, and then Lupin continued.

"The Patronus is a kind of a positive force, a projection of the very things that the dementor feeds upon such as hope and happiness. The Patronus doesn't feel despair, unlike a real human, so the dementor can't harm it."

"What does a Patronus look like?" Luna asked in her dreamy voice.

"Each one is unique to the wizard or witch who conjures it."

"What's the spell then professor?" Ginny asked beating Hermione to the question.

"The incantation is _Expecto Patronum_, but the spell itself is not enough to conjure a Patronus, you need to focus on a single, extremely happy memory to give it power," Lupin explained.

Harry started to rack his brain for the happiest memory he could remember and he immediately decided on that first kiss with Ginny on the Astronomy Tower, and judging by the slight blush on Ginny's face, she was thinking of the same memory.

"Have a memory selected?" Lupin asked and Harry nodded. "Right then, on the count of three, one….two….three." On three Lupin pulled the lid open and a dementor glided out and towards Harry. Harry froze for a second as he felt the cold start to seep in, but shaking his head of the growing screams that he could swear had touches of his father yelling in them now, he shouted, _"Expecto Patronum,"_ and a silver vapor erupted out of his wand and stopped the dementor in its tracks. Keeping the vapor was draining though, and just when Harry thought he couldn't keep it up anymore, Lupin forced the dementor-boggart back into the trunk.

"Excellent work Harry, really excellent, I must say I'm surprised you were able to get it on the first try," he said but Harry was a bit disappointed.

"But it didn't have a form," Harry muttered.

"For a first time, what you produced was excellent, but you do seem exhausted so I recommend keep practicing, maybe find or make some other happier memories, and this," Lupin said handing Harry a piece of chocolate and Harry could have sworn Lupin's eyes flickered between Ginny and himself. Leaning down, Lupin whispered, "Your parents would be proud of you Harry." Straightening up, Lupin asked, "Who wants to try next?"

By the end of the first lesson, only Harry, Ginny and Luna had been able to conjure even vapor against the dementor, but all six of them were exhausted and, in Hermione's case, upset over not performing a spell right quickly.

"Whether you like to admit or not, just the fact you six are trying to learn this spell says a lot about you, and it makes me proud to be your teacher," Lupin said, smiling around at them. Lupin couldn't help but notice that in their exhaustion, Harry and Ginny were holding hands and were barely hiding it, but Ron was splayed out on the floor and not paying attention to anything.

"Same time next week then?" Lupin asked the six students all nodded or mumbled an answer while Hermione had one last question.

"Professor Lupin, is it possible for someone to never be able to perform this spell?" she asked, clearly upset at her lack of vapor.

"Some wizards and witches can't perform the spell, but I wouldn't worry Hermione, finding the right memory and keeping the concentration is hard even for adult wizards," Lupin said with a kind smile. "I hardly cast it myself, unless it's necessary."

"Why's that?" Harry asked.

"I'm not overly fond of the form my Patronus takes," Lupin said a bit stiffly. "But that's by the by, I shall see you all either in class or here next week," and Professor Lupin levitated the trunk out to store in his office.

"That was a weird answer," Luna said, her voice not nearly as dreamy as usual.

"Not surprising really," Hermione started to explain but Ron cut her off.

"Give it a rest Hermione, I think we are all too tired for a long explanation, let's just get back to the Tower," Ron mumbled, a bit irritated that his sister and best mate had done something he couldn't, further cementing his jealousy of them.

"Come on guys, let's not fight," Neville said, staggering up to his feet and helping Luna up off the floor. "We're all tired so let's go get some sleep, Luna I'll walk you back to Ravenclaw Tower if you would like?"

"Thanks Neville," Luna said with a normal smile and Ginny glanced at her close friend and wondered as she and Neville left the classroom. Harry helped Ginny up, but it took both Harry and Hermione to get Ron up and moving. Hermione waved Harry off and escorted Ron out of the classroom so Harry and Ginny could walk back by themselves. Walking back at a slow pace, hand in hand, Harry told Ginny about what Lupin had said about his parents.

"Harry, maybe you should write to Mr. Padfoot, you still need to thank him for the Firebolt anyway," Ginny said as they reached the empty common room.

"You've got a point Gin, maybe he can tell me about Sirius Black. If he and Lupin were friends in school, they must have run in the same group of friends if they were friends with my parents too," Harry said thinking it over.

"Well it's up to you, I'm knackered so good night Harry," Ginny whispered and she leaned up and kissed him sweetly before walking off to the girls' staircase, leaving Harry to sit at a table and think about writing Mr. Padfoot. Deciding on his course of action, Harry pulled out a bit of parchment and a quill from his bag and started to write.

_Dear Mr. Padfoot…_


	9. Bludger to the Friendship

Disclaimer: Wish I owned it buuuut Harry Potter and his world are J.K. Rowling's, I just get to play, expand, and put my O.C.s in it.

Author's Note: Fair warning this chapter and the next will be rather long, on with the story

Chapter 9: Bludger to the Friendships

Ravenclaw played Slytherin a week after term started, and it had been a game that freaked Wood out. Ravenclaw and Slytherin ran up a huge number of points 470 to 360, so much so that Gryffindor had actually fallen to third place by a hundred points and Slytherin had edged out the win, taking first in the standings. Wood had thus increased the number of practices to five times a week so Gryffindor could move into second if they beat Ravenclaw by more than 100 points. This meant that with Lupin's anti-dementor classes, which were far more draining than a week of Quidditch practices, Harry, Ron and Ginny only had one night to do all their homework. Even so, none of them showed the stress more than Hermione, whose immense workload, plus the dementor lessons, was finally starting to catch up with her. Every night, Hermione was seen in a corner of the common room, several tables spread with books, Arithmancy charts, rune dictionaries, diagrams of Muggles in various activites, and roll after roll of notes. She hardly spoke to anyone anymore and snapped at passersby for being too loud, except Abygail who would always sit down and help Hermione with her Ancient Runes.

"How's she doing it all?" Ron asked Harry one evening as they were finishing up an essay for Snape on Undetectable Poisons. Well Harry was finishing up while Ron was putting it off for a bit.

"Doing what?" Harry questioned, looking up and also discreetly scanning the room for Ginny. He could barely see Hermione behind a huge pile of books.

"Getting to all her classes mate!" Ron exclaimed a bit too loudly earning him some shhs from surrounding students. "I saw her talking to Professor Vector, that Arithmancy witch, this morning. They were discussing yesterday's lesson, but that would be impossible since Hermione was in Care of Magical Creatures with us! And Ernie McMillan told me she has never missed a Muggle Studies class, but half of them are during Divination and she hasn't missed a single one of those either!"

Before Harry could answer, a laugh that sounded like it had sunshine in it broke out as Abygail walked by.

"Well it's a bit obvious Weasley, but then I wouldn't expect someone like you to understand the complexities of it," she said.

"What's that supposed to mean Ericson?!" Ron yelled and the common room stopped what it was doing to watch yet another Ron and Abygail argument.

"Simply, Weasley, that if you actually paid attention, you would notice the clues and put two and two together," Abygail said, the infuriating smile that she used when talking to Ron on her lips.

"You know what, I bet you don't know and are just trying to act like you do," Ron said, trying to get Abygail to react in any way.

"Just keep thinking that. Oh Harry, Ginny said she had to help Luna in Charms so she's at the library," Abygail said, turning her attention away from Ron.

"Thanks," Harry said, going back to his essay, but Ron wasn't done with Abygail.

"Why are you telling Harry that and why should he care where Ginny is?!" he yelled at her.

"I'm not at liberty to say, I'm just passing along a message," Abygail serenely said as she started to walk away.

"She's nuts," Ron muttered angrily, slumping back into his seat.

"I wouldn't antagonize her Ron," Harry warned him quietly.

"She just thinks she's better than everyone else because she's so good at magic," Ron said, clearly not listening to Harry. "And I told Ginny to stay away from her, multiple times."

"Ginny is her own person, she can hang out with whomever she wants," Harry muttered while going back to finishing his essay. "And if you haven't noticed, Abygail is nice to everyone except the people who annoy her."

"I'll figure out some way to get back at her," Ron kept muttering to himself, his half-finished essay forgotten and not hearing Harry's comment on Ginny.

January faded slowly into February, with no change in the bitter cold weather. The match against Ravenclaw drew ever closer, and it coincided with a rise in tensions between Ron and Abygail, Ginny, and Hermione. Harry was quickly finding himself trying to negotiate the middle ground between his two best friends and his secret girlfriend, on top of his studies and Quidditch. The tension between Abygail and Ron came to a head during Dueling Class the day of the next anti-dementor lesson.

Professor Kemper had been showing the third years different variations on Muggle hand-to hand combat. All of the pureblood elites looked disdainfully on learning this stuff and hadn't been trying at all, while Harry had thrown himself into learning it with gusto. He wasn't the only one. Daphne was one of the few Slytherins who was actually trying, along with Tracey Davis and Blaise Zabini, and they were joined by Justin Finch-Fletchley and Hannah Abbott from Hufflepuff, Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil in Ravenclaw, and most of the Gryffindors except Ron.

"Weasley, I believe I've told you time and again that stance is wrong, another five points from Gryffindor," Professor Kemper said severely.

"Sorry professor, but I just don't see the point in learning this when we have wands," Ron said before he could help himself and the class as a whole took a quick breath.

"Is that so?" Professor Kemper said, his voice calm but his eyes had narrowed a bit. "If you're so confident, perhaps you would like to back up your argument in the dueling ring?"

"Sure professor," Ron replied. "I'll even take on Abygail and prove once and for all she isn't brilliant."

"I accept," Abygail said walking into the dueling ring.

"Then Ms. Ericson shall only use her hands while Mr. Weasley will have access to his wand, if he wins we will stop learning anything nonmagic related, but if he loses, not only will he serve a month's worth of detention with Professor Snape, but we will run an obstacle course that the United States Navy Seals and Aurors use for our final," Professor Kemper said. "Do you wish to proceed still, Mr. Weasley?

"Of course," Ron said walking into the dueling ring, clearly not noticing the looks many of the third years were throwing at him to just shut up.

"Begin," Professor Kemper declared.

Ron whipped his wand up and yelled out, _'Incendio,'_ but Abygail wasn't there when the spell landed. Abygail was already moving and slipped in under Ron's guard to jab his arm several times with her finger tips before darting out. Ron immediately felt his arm go numb and he could no longer move it.

"What did you just do?!" he yelled at his opponent, who for once had a very serious look on her face when facing Ron.

"I paralyzed every pressure point in your wand arm so it can no longer move for the next hour, that's your only warning Weasley, back out now," she explained.

"I can still fight you, I've got my left arm," Ron yelled, switching his wand out of his useless right hand into his left.

"Weasley, I'm giving you one last chance before you end up in the hospital wing for the next hour recovering," Abygail said.

"Bring it on Ericson, _Locomotor Mortis,"_ Ron yelled at her, throwing the Leg-Locking Hex at her. Abygail flipped over the spell, landed into a rolling cartwheel, and got right up next to Ron. Ron tried to kick her, but she simply jabbed her fingers across both legs, his chest and his other arm and spun out to jab into two points on his back at his shoulder blades. Ron yelled as he fell to the ground, his body completely paralyzed except his head.

"What Ms. Ericson just demonstrated is one of many different Muggle fighting styles. Thank you Ms. Ericson; oh, and Mr. Potter, Mr. Longbottom, please take Weasley to Madam Pomfrey," Professor Kemper said, his expression not changing but amusement clear in his eyes.

Abygail leaned down and whispered in Ron's ear before Harry and Neville picked him up, "let this be an abstract lesson Ron, never start a fight you can't finish."

Ron just glared at her angrily and she sighed and turned to Harry, "I tried." She then walked back to pack up her things as Professor Kemper dismissed the class and Harry and Neville carried Ron out, with the laughter of Malfoy and his cronies ringing in Ron's ears.

To make matters even worse, the anti-dementor lessons were straining Ron and Ginny's relationship. Several sessions in, Harry, Ginny, Luna, Neville and Hermione had all been able to produce mist with Harry and Luna actually getting a shimmery shape forming. Ron had yet to even conjure mist and it was showing when he was the one suffering the most with the boggart-dementor during that night.

"You shouldn't be too hard on yourself Ron," Professor Lupin was saying as Ron failed again to produce the mist. "Many wizards and witches are unable to do this spell."

"But how come I can't and Ginny can? She's my little sister and she's getting the mist," Ron complained, not noticing the glare Ginny shot his way.

"It may have something to do with the memory she's using compared to yours, you never did say what your memory was Ron," asked Professor Lupin kindly.

"I'm just using the memory of making my first save in a pick-up game of Quidditch at the Burrow," Ron said and the others just looked at each other. "Best memory ever, well apart from Fred getting hexed by Dad in the buttocks."

"Ron, that's not nearly powerful enough to fuel the spell," Lupin said and Ginny couldn't help herself but snicker at her brother.

"What's so funny Ginny, what memory are you using if you're so good at this?" Ron snapped at her and Ginny blushed a bit, whether in anger or embarrassment no one could say.

"That's none of your business Ronald," Ginny hissed at him, anger clearly the cause of her blush.

"Look, Ron, you need to sit down and find a new memory to use, something more powerful," Lupin said putting a hand on Ron's shoulder, but also cutting off any chance at argument.

"My memory is just as good as hers, whatever it is," Ron grumbled. "Let me try again."

The professor just smiled and turned away.

"I think we've done all we can tonight, but how about a treat before bed?" Lupin said, walking over to his briefcase and pulling out several bottles.

"Butterbeer," Ginny exclaimed happily before Lupin shot her an amused look.

"Excited Ginny?" Lupin asked, amused.

"Just my favorite drink," Ginny said shuffling her feet a bit as she accepted a bottle.

"Well I say we propose a toast to a Gryffindor victory against Ravenclaw! Er, that is, sorry Luna, old habits and all and I can't publicly show bias as a teacher," Lupin said a bit sheepishly.

"That's okay professor, all of my friends are in Gryffindor so no hard feelings," Luna said serenely sitting close to Neville.

"Professor, did you see in the paper about the decree the ministry announced today for Sirius Black?" Hermione asked as she took a sip.

"I have to say I disagree with the Ministry, no one deserves a Dementor's Kiss, no matter their crimes," Lupin said with a sigh.

"But he murdered all of those people," Ron blurted out.

"We don't know that he did," Harry countered and Ginny nodded. Lupin was a little surprised by Harry's defense of Sirius, but then again Harry and Sirius, under his alias, had been sending letters back and forth for a month now, so perhaps Sirius had hinted that something was off about the story.

"But he had a trial," Ron argued.

"No he didn't, Ron, Sirius Black was sent straight to Azkaban before a trial was ever done," Lupin said.

"Until I hear his side of the story, he's innocent until proven guilty," Harry said before Ron or Hermione could interject but Lupin smiled.

"Well said Harry, best be getting along all of you, almost curfew," said Lupin looking at the clock. Thanking Lupin for the drink and the lesson, they all left as a group and headed back to Gryffindor Tower, or in Luna's case, Ravenclaw Tower. Neville left the group to escort Luna back, with Ginny smiling ever so slightly as she could see something was forming there. Glancing back at her own secret boyfriend, she couldn't help but smile dreamily at him and he returned it briefly while Ron and Hermione bickered about something or other.

Reaching Gryffindor Tower, the four Gryffindors noticed Colin Creevey standing outside at the portrait hole.

"Problem Colin?" Ginny asked and Colin jumped a bit before turning around.

"Yea, I misplaced the list of passwords for this week and can't remember today's," Colin said shuffling his feet.

"No problem it's Oddikinsbabbery," Hermione said and Sir Cadogan swung open reluctantly and the five Gryffindors entered the common room. Thanking Hermione, Colin ran off to his friends and the group went to settle in for their classwork when Ron jumped up after searching his bag.

"Darn, I left my Charms book upstairs, I'll be right back," he said dashing up the staircase.

"I swear if this keeps up, he's going to fail at least three classes," Hermione sighed watching Ron's retreating back.

"I'm surprised he hasn't gotten a Howler yet from Mum," Ginny agreed.

"He hasn't been telling her the grades he has been getting, but I didn't say a word, got it?" Harry muttered conspiratorially. He noticed the book Hermione was reading was for Muggle Studies and she had also pulled out several other books for the various other subjects she was taking.

"Hermione have you considered dropping any of these, this Arithmancy looks exceedingly complex," Harry asked her, hefting her Arithmancy book.

"Oh no, I couldn't do that, that's probably my favorite subject other than Transfiguration," Hermione exclaimed and Harry and Ginny shared a look. "It's…" and before Hermione could say why it was her favorite, a strangled yell echoed down from the boys' dorm. The whole common room fell silent, staring at the entrance, when hurried footsteps came thundering down the stairs.

Ron burst into the common room holding a bedsheet and he ran over to Harry, Ginny and Hermione.

"LOOK!" he bellowed right in Hermione's face. "LOOK!"

"Ron, what am I supposed to be seeing?" Hermione asked meekly.

"SCABBERS! LOOK! SCABBERS!" he screamed.

"Uh Ron that's a sheet," Ginny remarked.

As Ron let out a yell of anger at his sister, Harry noticed that the sheet in Ron's hand had something red on it, something that looked exactly like…

"BLOOD, GINNY! Ron yelled into the completely silent room. "HE'S GONE AND YOU KNOW WHAT I FOUND ON THE FLOOR NEARBY?"

"N-no" Ginny mumbled while Hermione looked petrified.

"HAIRS FROM THAT BLOODY CAT!" Ron yelled, throwing several long ginger cat hairs onto Hermione's book.

Meanwhile at Grimmauld Place, Sirius looked up at the large map of Hogwarts he and Remus had designed and noticed a slight pulsing light coming from Gryffindor Tower. He smiled as Peter now had a tracker on him and it would make getting justice so much easier.

It looked like the end of Ron and Hermione's friendship, each was so angry with the other over the next few weeks that Harry wasn't sure they would ever make up. Ron was enraged that Hermione had never taken the attempts to eat Scabbers seriously and was trying to prove her cat's innocence by suggesting Ron look around the Tower. Hermione, meanwhile, fiercely maintained that Ron had no proof that Crookshanks had eaten Scabbers, as those hairs could have been there since Christmas, and that Ron had always been prejudiced towards Crookshanks since she bought him.

Harry and Ginny had excused themselves from the row as they wanted to stay friends with both, but Ron's surliness was straining their patience with him. To try and alleviate Ron's surliness, Harry made a last-ditch attempt to take his mind off Scabbers by asking Ron if he wanted a chance to fly on his Firebolt after practice. The promise of a flight on an actual Firebolt did seem to cheer Ron up slightly so they headed off to Quidditch pitch together.

Arriving, Harry was immediately approached by Wood.

"Harry, I've just found out who Ravenclaw is playing as Seeker. It's Cho Chang. She's a fourth year, and she's pretty good but she has had some problems with injuries in the past," Wood said, scowling a bit as Cho had made a full recovery. "On the other hand, she rides a Comet Two Sixty, which is going to look like a joke next to your Firebolt." Wood gave Harry's broom a look of fervent admiration, obviously pinning his hopes for the Cup on Harry and then called out, "Okay everyone, mount up."

Harry kicked off, and just like every other time he had flown his Firebolt, it was better than he had ever imagined. Harry zipped by Ginny as she and the other Chasers were practicing passing at high speeds and couldn't help but smile. It was nice to share something with her; if only she could move up a class so they could spend more time together.

"Harry, I'm letting the Snitch out, get ready," Wood hollered.

Grinning, Harry raced a Bludger to the goalpost, abruptly turned on a dime and darted down and caught the Snitch as it zoomed out from behind Wood. The team cheered as Harry let the Snitch go, gave it a ten second head start, and then chased after it, looping through his teammates before catching it so close to Katie that she shrieked a bit and swerved out of the way.

It was the best practice any of the original seven team members could remember having, so much so that Wood had no complaints, a first according to George.

"I don't foresee anything stopping us tomorrow, except well," Wood said, glancing over at Harry who was standing next to Ginny. "You did solve your dementor problem right Harry?"

"I've been working on it Oliver, Professor Lupin has been helping so I can at least stave them off to reach the ground," Harry answered, wishing he had a full-fledged Patronus.

"The dementors won't come near the field again, Oliver, Dumbledore would lose it," Fred quipped.

"Well let's hope not," said Wood. "Anyway, great work tonight everyone, including our reserves. Let's get back to the tower, get some shuteye."

"I'm staying out for a bit; Ron wants a chance to fly on the Firebolt," explained Harry and Wood nodded before walking away with the rest of the team, except Ginny and Ron.

"Harry said I could ride it not you, Ginny," Ron said walking over to where Harry and Ginny were standing.

"I'm just here because I wanted to talk with Harry while you are flying around," Ginny answered with a glare, but also secretly smiling as she had already flown on the Firebolt several times, but Ron didn't need to know that.

Harry handed his broom over to Ron, who, with a look of almost pure ecstasy, grabbed it and kicked off.

"My dear brother needs to get at least a two track mind," Ginny sighed as she and Harry walked around the perimeter of the pitch while Ron zoomed around above them.

"But he does Gin, food and Quidditch," quipped Harry and Ginny laughed loudly.

"Okay a three track mind, happy?" Ginny managed to say between catching her breath.

"No I'm not, but then that's because with Ron here, we can't walk hand in hand," Harry said with a smirk which Ginny returned. They continued to banter back and forth until the sun started to set and Ron landed next to them, out of breath but extremely happy.

"Thanks Harry," Ron said with a huge grin. "Maybe next time you'll get a chance to ride it Ginny."

"Maybe," Ginny said, keeping her face neutral.

Walking back up the castle, the three of them heard a noise nearby. Harry lit his wand and shined it in the direction of the sound to reveal Crookshanks.

"Get out of here," Ron roared at the cat, which just disdainfully looked at Ron before moving off as if hunting for something.

"Bloody cat, probably washing Scabbers down with a few birds," Ron grumbled while Harry and Ginny shared a look before Harry answered.

"Ron maybe you should lay off Hermione, I mean Crookshanks is a cat and you guys had Scabbers for how long?" said Harry diplomatically. Ron whipped around at him.

"Twelve years, but that's not the point, she's defending that monster!" Ron yelled at Harry, who had stopped listening when Ron said Scabbers had been with the family for twelve years. That made no sense, a common garden rat couldn't live that long. Ginny was obviously thinking the same as she was mirroring Harry's expression. Something was very off about the whole thing.

"Ron calm down, you can't argue against nature," Harry said trying to defuse his friend.

"Figures you would take her side, I'm supposed to be your best mate," Ron yelled when Ginny walked up and slapped her brother right across the face.

"That's for being the world's biggest prat, Harry just did something really nice for you and yet you fly off the handle when he says you should lay off your other best friend," Ginny said angrily before turning so her long hair whipped around and stalked off towards the castle.

"Mental that one," Ron grumbled rubbing his face.

"She is right though, I would think about what you've been saying Ron," Harry said walking away as well; leaving Ron to stew in what he felt was the unfairness of everything.

In his office, Ryan was looking at a similar map as Sirius' and smiling. Having the girls recruit that cat had been a boon for their plan; Peter was now trapped on the grounds because of Crookshanks being on the prowl and he had taken to hiding somewhere in Gryffindor Tower when the cat had nearly gotten him the first time he tried to slink out. He, Remus and Sirius were hoping to force Peter out of the castle itself and make him hide in Hagrid's hut as that would make it that much easier to nab him when the time came.

Harry went down to breakfast the morning with half the house escorting him down, thinking he and his broom required an honor guard. Sitting down at the table next to Ginny, Harry set his Firebolt down gently and helped himself to some eggs and toast. He ate slowly, as several admirers came up to see his broom, including Cedric who congratulated Harry on the excellent replacement to his Nimbus and Penelope Clearwater, who actually asked to hold the broom for a moment.

"Now, now Penny, no sabotage," Percy said with a smile at his girlfriend. "Penny and I have a bet you see, ten Galleons on the outcome of the match."

"It's an incredible marvel of charm work," Penny said handing the broom back to Harry with a small smile. "Good luck."

"Harry, make sure we win, I don't have ten Galleons," Percy whispered urgently.

"No problem Percy," Harry answered. Percy nodded his thanks and bustled off to join Penny at the Ravenclaw table for a spot of breakfast.

As Harry and the rest of the team got up at a quarter to eleven to head to the pitch, Malfoy intercepted them at the door with the rest of the Slytherin team.

"Sure you can handle that broom Potter?" Malfoy sneered at Harry.

"Yeah, I reckon so," Harry said calmly back.

"Got plenty of features, hasn't it?" Malfoy said maliciously. "Shame it doesn't come with a parachute in case you get too close to a dementor."

The Slytherins snickered and Marcus Flint clapped Malfoy on the back.

"Pity you can't attach an extra arm to yours so it could catch the Snitch for you," Harry fired back and the Gryffindor team roared with laughter as they passed by the fuming Slytherins. As they almost exited the Great Hall, a small first year bumped into Harry and her books she was holding went flying.

"Oh sorry, wasn't watching where I was going," the first year rushed out in one breath.

"That's okay," Harry said with a smile. "Guys I'll meet up with you down at the pitch."

"Alright, but hurry Harry I want the team to be together to look over conditions," Wood said and the team followed him out the doors, with Ginny glancing back with a smile.

Harry quickly picked up her books and handed them back to her.

"Here you go, they look alright. Wait, aren't you Astoria Greengrass?" Harry asked the first year.

The first year smiled and dashed off towards the Great Hall and Harry shook his head at what that was all about, but his question was answered as he passed one of the pillars just outside the Entrance Hall and heard someone whisper for him.

"Sorry about the cloak and dagger stuff, but this was the only way I could get a warning to you and Astoria wanted to help," Daphne whispered.

"What did you need to tell me?" Harry asked as he bent down to tie his shoe, or so it would appear to anyone else.

"Malfoy and his cronies are planning on dressing as dementors to try and psych you out at the match today, thought you should know," Daphne answered.

"Thanks, Daph and thank your sister too," Harry said standing up with a small smile as he walked away. Daphne slipped out of the shadow of the pillar to grab a small breakfast.

Harry ran to catch up with the team outside of the locker rooms. The weather couldn't have been more different from their last match, the sun shining high in the sky and a nice, crisp breeze blowing across from the west. They could hear as the rest of the school was filing into the stadium as they changed in the silence that only nerves and excitement can cause.

"You all know what we have to do," Wood said as he paced in front of the team before they had to head out. "Play like you did at last practice and we have it, but if we lose we are out of the running." At that Wood got a pained expression on his face. "I want our reserves on standby so stay to the perimeter. Okay team, let's go." Wood led the team outside, but Harry and Ginny lagged back for a second.

"Good luck Harry," Ginny whispered as she leaned in and kissed him once.

"I'll bring home that Snitch Gin," Harry said kissing her back for a second before they were forced to part ways and head outside to the thunderous applause.

The Ravenclaw team, dressed in the navy blue of their house, was already standing in the middle, waiting for the Gryffindors. Their Seeker, Cho Chang, was the only girl on their team, and Harry noticed she was a head shorter than him and rather pretty, but nowhere close to Ginny. Cho smiled radiantly at Harry, who nodded back, but Ginny knew that smile all too well and glared at the Ravenclaw Seeker.

"Wood, Davies shake hands," Madam Hooch said briskly, and the two captains shook hands and nodded at each other.

"Mount your brooms….on my whistle…three….two….one—"

"ANNNND there off, and the big excitement this match is the Firebolt Harry Potter is flying for Gryffindor. According to _Which Broomstick_, the Firebolt's going to be the broom of choice for the national teams this coming World Championship series—," Lee Jordan, the commentator for the match exclaimed.

"Jordan, please focus on the match, you aren't paid to plug for the Firebolt," Professor McGonagall interjected to the laughter of the stadium

"Right you are, professor, just giving a bit of background information to keep things interesting, oh the Firebolt has a built-in auto-brake and…."

"JORDAN!"

"Okay, okay Gryffindor in possession, Katie Bell of Gryffindor heading for goal, she shoots and scores 10-nil to Gryffindor. Grant Page returns and passes it to Stretton, who passes to Chambers, who passes to Davies, who passes back to Chambers, Chambers goes for goal and oh nice Bludger work by Fred or George Weasley, Gryffindor in possession again with Alicia Spinnet, who still won't say yes to a date in Hogsmeade."

"Jordan, focus on plays, not your romantic life, Ms. Spinnet passes to Ms. Johnson," Professor McGonagall stated.

"Right, right professor, Johnson passes to Bell, who sideslips Chambers, oh nice dodge there and she shoots and scores again, 20-nil Gryffindor."

Harry smiled to himself as Gryffindor continued to pull ahead, it was soon eighty to zero, when Harry noticed the Snitch flying around close to the ground near the middle of the pitch. Harry dived and Cho, who had been following him closely, dived after him.

"And I think Potter has seen the Snitch, there's no way Chang can keep up annnnnd, drat a nice Bludger by Samuels knocks Potter off course and the Snitch is lost," Lee said with a shake of his head.

The match continued, but emboldened by their Beater's effort, Ravenclaw had started to catch up and had gotten three goals past Wood when a Bludger sent by the other Ravenclaw Beater, Inglebee, connected with Alicia Spinnet.

"Ouch that's going to hurt, and Wood calls for timeout," Lee said as the Gryffindor team landed next to their injured player.

"You okay Alicia?" Wood asked.

"My wrist is either broken or sprained so I'm useless until Madam Pomfrey can patch me up," Alicia said with a groan while holding her wrist.

"Ginny!" Wood yelled out and Ginny ran over. "Ginny you're in since Alicia is hurt, make the house proud."

"Yes sir, cap," Ginny shouted back enthusiastically and mounted her broom.

"And looks like second year Ginny Weasley has replaced Alicia Spinnet as play resumes, and by Merlin she can fly," Jordan exclaimed. "Weasley with the Quaffle, she jukes Chambers, slides under a Bludger from Inglebee, and shoots and SCORES 90-30 Gryffindor, first goal by the youngest Weasley but looks like she is just getting started."

_'That's right Lee, just keep watching,' _Harry thought as he zoomed pass Ginny, who had a determined look locked onto her face as she raced after Davies and the Quaffle.

"Davies in possession passes to Burrow, who passes back to Chambers and INTERCEPTED by Weasley and she passes to Bell, who passes to Johnson, she fakes right and throws left and SCORES 100-30 Gryffindor. And looks like Potter has seen the Snitch again and he's easily outpacing Chang's Comet…"

"JORDAN I SWEAR IF YOU KEEP MENTIONING THAT BROOM YOU'LL HAVE DETENTION!" Professor McGonagall yelled as the crowd watched intensely as Harry and Cho raced towards the Snitch.

"My god, dementors on the field," Jordan called out as three towering hooded figures glided across the pitch. Harry glanced down at the three "dementors," pulled his wand and yelled _'EXPECTO PATRONUM,'_ and a large shape charged out of the tip of his wand.

Malfoy was smirking inside of his hood as he and Goyle moved to be directly under Harry. _'Potter is probably frozen in fear, and now Gryffindor will be humiliated,' _he thought as he looked up to be met with a huge silver shape charging right at him.

"What the he—," he yelled as he lost his balance and fell off Goyle's shoulders, taking Goyle with him. As they fell over, they knocked into Crabbe and Nott, who knocked over Flint and they all landed in a huge tangle of robes and feet.

"And Potter just blasted something huge at them and they've fallen, oh look its members of the Slytherin Quidditch team and friends. Potter swipes and POTTER HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH, FINAL SCORE 250-30 GRYFFINDOR WINS!"

Harry landed on the field, his fist in the air and the Snitch glittering in his hand. The team swarmed him, followed by the rest of the Gryffindors. Wood was yelling out, "THAT'S MY BOY," Percy fought through the crowd to shake Harry's other hand and said he had to go find Penny, and then Ginny was able to hug Harry tightly as Professor Lupin came up behind them and whispered in Harry's ear.

"That was quite the Patronus, fully-corporal," he said with smile as Harry turned to face him, Ginny still hugging him.

"Pity it wasn't real dementors," Harry said with a huge smirk as Lupin realized Harry had prior knowledge of Mr. Malfoy's attempt to distract him.

"Yes, you gave Mr. Malfoy, quite the scare," Lupin laughed as Professor McGonagall was standing over the heap of Slytherins.

"That was the most underhanded trick I've ever seen!" she screeched at them. "Detention for all of you for a week and fifty points from Slytherin, never in all my years."

"Come on Harry!" George called out as Ginny stopped hugging him quickly. "Party, common room, now!"

"Right," Harry said and he and the rest of the team led the swarm of Gryffindors back to the castle and what promised to be a night to remember.

It was like they had won the Quidditch Cup already; the party lasted well into the night. Fred and George disappeared for a couple of hours and returned with armfuls of bottles of butterbeer, pumpkin fizz, and several bags of food, including Honydukes sweets.

"How did you get all of this?" squealed Angelina Johnson happily as George handed her several Peppermint Toads.

"We have our ways my dear," George said with a bow to her.

Only one person wasn't joining into the festivities. Hermione was surrounded by stacks upon stacks of books, reading an enormous manual for Muggle Studies. Harry and Ginny broke away from where they had been talking with Neville and went over to her.

"Did you come to the match, Hermione?" Ginny asked sitting down next to her on the edge of the nearest chair.

"Of course I did," Hermione said not looking up and answering in hoarse voice. "And I'm very glad we won, and I think you both did extremely well, but I need to have this read by Monday.

"Come on, Hermione, you can put off work for one night, come have some food," Ginny tried to reason with her as Harry wondered if Ron was in a good enough mood to reconcile with Hermione.

"I can't guys, I've still got four hundred and twenty-two pages left," exclaimed Hermione, sounding a bit hysterical. "Anyways…" She glanced over at Ron, who was celebrating with Dean and Seamus, "He doesn't want me to join in."

There was no arguing that point when Ron chose that moment to exclaim very loudly, "If only Scabbers hadn't just been eaten, he could have had some of those Fudge Flies. He used to really love them…"

Hermione looked at Ron for a moment before bursting into tears, grabbing her book, and raced for the girls' dormitories, still sobbing.

Harry and Ginny both started over towards Ron, but they were beaten there by Abygail.

"Can't you give the girl a break?" Abygail yelled at him. "You take every chance to belittle and tear her down, it's pathetic, just because you have jealousy issues and low self-esteem gives you no right to pick on Hermione."

Ron looked flabbergasted for a moment before his ears went bright red from anger, and he yelled back at her, "Bugger off Ericson, you have no idea what you're talking about!"

"Doesn't she Ron?" asked Ginny. "You have been picking on her for something a cat was bred to do, Ronald."

"If she would just act sorry, I would stop!" Ron yelled at the two girls.

"So unless she admits you are right about Crookshanks eating Scabbers, you won't be friends with Hermione anymore?" questioned Harry. "That doesn't seem all together right."

"Whatever Harry, I don't need this tonight, I'm going to enjoy the party," Ron said loudly as he stomped off to another side of the common room.

"If your brother doesn't grow up soon, it won't go well," said Abygail with a sigh to Ginny. "Great game guys, though, I mean that sincerely."

Harry and Ginny nodded at her and Abygail walked off to the girls' dorm to most likely comfort Hermione.

The Gryffindor party ended only when Professor McGonagall turned up at one in the morning to insist they all go to bed. Harry climbed up to the dorm room with Neville, discussing the match a little, but mainly talking about their schoolwork for Dueling class. At last, Harry crawled into his bed exhausted, noticing that Ron's curtains were already closed. Shaking his head slightly, Harry sighed and wished his best friends would make up soon. Closing his eyes, Harry immediately fell to sleep.

Outside Gryffindor Tower, Sirius was smiling as he and Remus crept closer to portrait of Sir Cadogan.

"Remember Padfoot, the point is to scare, not kill right now," Remus warned.

"Don't worry Moony, I know the plan and I'm sticking to it, I just need the password in," Sirius said with mischief in his eyes. Sirius had fully recovered from his ordeal in Azkaban and looked much more like the man Remus remembered, especially with his eyes once again full of life and merriment.

"Here's the list Colin Creevey conveniently made and Nicole took for us, I believe the current password is Hibbertygibberty," whispered Remus as they neared the mad knight.

"You stay behind old friend, it would be best I do this alone so no suspicion falls on you," Sirius said as he clamped a hand on Remus' shoulder.

"I agree, good luck Padfoot," Remus said as he Disillusioned himself.

Smiling a bit manically, Sirius crept right up to the knight, who became alert.

"Who goes there and wishes to gain access to the chambers within," Sir Cadogan challenged.

"Hibbertygibberty," said Sirius, reading off the list of passwords.

"Enter companion," Sir Cadogan cried out happily and swung open.

Sirius moved inside quickly and transfigured his suit to be worn prison robes. He also put a Glamour Charm on himself so he would look more like the most recent photo to appear in the paper. Finishing his disguise, he started to look around and couldn't help but grin at the obvious signs of a huge party lay around everywhere.

_'These kids have no idea what a real party is, if only they knew what Marauder Quidditch parties were like. Now, let's see…third year dorms,'_ Sirius thought as he stealthily moved to the boys' staircase and crept up to the door marked Third Years. Pushing the door open, Sirius slipped inside and looked around, pulling the drapes of each bed open carefully to peer inside for the right boy. He noticed Frank and Alice's boy snoring into his pillow, a dark-skinned boy cuddling with a football, a short brown haired boy drooling, and then he reached Harry's bed.

Looking down at his godson, Sirius smiled gently at the slightly snoring young man who looked so much like James it hurt.

_'One day soon Harry, you'll know the truth and I can give you a proper home,' _Sirius thought sadly before moving onto the final bed and his target.

Pulling a knife out of his pocket, he started to slash at the curtains viciously, imagining they were Wormtail, and pulled a part of them off the bed. Sirius started counting down from three and when he hit zero, Ron startled awake and noticed Sirius standing there with a huge knife.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH !" Ron screamed and Sirius ran for the door as the other boys were woken up.

Harry woke suddenly as though he'd been hit in the face. Disoriented, he grasped around for his glasses while trying to pull his drapes open, smashing his knuckle against the end table before freeing himself of his covers. Harry distinctly heard the dorm room door slam, as if someone had rushed out.

"What's going on?" Seamus said sitting up and wiping a bit of drool off his face.

Ron was sitting up in bed, shaking terribly and a look of terror plastered across his face, the curtains along his bed torn to shreds.

"S, Sirius Black! With a knife!

"You sure Ron?" Dean questioned. "I mean it probably was a dream…"

"Look at the curtains! I tell you he was here!" Ron yelled.

They all scrambled out of their beds and Harry reached the door first. Wrenching it open he dashed downstairs, just in time to see the flash of a robe disappear through the portrait hole and a piece of parchment fall. Running over to the portrait hole, Harry opened it as the tower started to wake up behind him and he looked around the corridor to see no one was there. Harry walked back in and quietly pocketed the parchment that had been left behind as several people came down the stairs.

"What's going on, are we continuing?" Fred asked hopefully.

"Everyone go back to bed," Percy said trying to get everyone back upstairs.

"Percy, Sirius Black was here and he destroyed my curtains," Ron yelled at his brother.

The common room went very still, but before anyone could react the portrait hole opened and Professor McGonagall returned.

"Really enough is enough, I'm glad Gryffindor won but…" she started to say and Ron cut across her.

"PROFESSOR, SIRIUS BLACK WAS HERE AND HE TRIED TO KILL US WITH A KNIFE!" he yelled while McGonagall went quiet.

"Black couldn't possibly have gotten in, he would need to know the password," she said.

"ASK HIM!" Ron yelled, pointing at the back of Sir Cadogan's portrait.

Professor McGonagall looked skeptically at Ron before she walked outside and the house moved up to hear what was said.

"Sir Cadogan, did you just admit someone into the tower?"

"Why certainly fair lady, he had the password, read it off a piece of paper."

Silence reigned for a moment as Professor McGonagall walked back inside, the fury clear on her face but also fear.

"Whoever wrote down the passwords is in so much trouble right now."

None of the Gryffindors slept that night as they knew the castle was being searched again. Professor McGonagall came back a few hours later to inform them that Black had escaped again and shooed them back to their beds. Harry lay quietly in bed, the piece of parchment Black had dropped in his hand, and he kept reading the one sentence over and over again.

"The rat lives," Harry mumbled to himself wondering what that could possibly mean.

For the next few weeks, security around the castle tightened considerably. The Fat Lady had returned to her rightful place, but was still a tiny bit jumpy whenever a student randomly appeared around the corner. Filch had been going around, boarding up every hole and crack, but the statue of the one-eyed witch remained unobstructed, much to Ginny's relief.

"Do you reckon maybe he is getting in that way?" Harry asked her one night while Ron was surrounded by a group of admirers.

"I doubt it, he would have to know about that passage and the owners of Honeydukes would have heard," Ginny replied as she looked with mild disgust at her brother and his admirers.

For once, Ron was getting more attention than Harry and if Harry was honest with himself he was secretly thankful for that. Harry was watching Ron tell his story of that night to a bunch of second years, who were listening in rapt attention, while he was thinking about something that made no sense if one believed the story of Sirius Black.

_'If Sirius Black is after me, why did he go after Ron instead? And that cryptic sentence was left behind intentionally I'm almost certain, but why?' _Harry thought to himself as Ron finished his tale.

"So, Hogsmeade weekend soon, what do you want to do?" Ron asked him.

"I'm not sure," Harry answered evasively. He had been planning to use that weekend to take Ginny on an actual date. Walking towards the Great Hall for breakfast, Ron kept bouncing ideas about what they could do while in Hogsmeade, while Harry just nodded and said okay where appropriate. Sad as it was to think, Harry wished Ron wouldn't be able to go so he wouldn't need to deal with the issue.

Sitting down at his usual place at the Gryffindor table, Harry looked around secretly to see if Ginny was there as the morning post arrived. Harry was surprised to see Hedwig come flying down with a letter.

"Wonder who that is from?" Ron mumbled around a bite of oatmeal.

"It's from Mr. Padfoot," Harry said noticing the now familiar paw print on the other side of the envelope.

"What's it say?" Ron asked straining to see as Harry opened it.

_Dear Harry,_

_ Heard about your crushing victory over Ravenclaw, so congrats on that, your father would have been proud I'm sure. In answer to your last question about your parents' professions, your father was one of the best Aurors in the Ministry and your mother, well no one really knew what she did except your father and he never said. All I ever found out was she was involved with the Department of Mysteries so sorry about that. Anyway, to the nature of that problem you've been wrestling with, I've always felt it's best to make a grandiose gesture, but that's always been in my nature. Your father always said I had a flair for the dramatic; why look at how we met. Well, best be finishing this letter, I've got a task to focus on in the Hogwarts area in the near future so I may see you soon, but as always write whenever you wish._

_ Yours, _

_ Mr. Padfoot_

Harry leaned back with a smile, he was extremely glad he now had this window into his parents' lives, if only second-hand accounts.

"When did you ask about your parents? I thought you only had thanked him for the Firebolt?" Ron questioned.

"I sent a letter to him right before the Quidditch match. I bet it was Lupin who told him about the outcome," Harry answered easily.

"What problem did you mention?" Ron asked but before Harry could answer, Ron lost interest as Hermione walked pass with Abygail. "Hold that thought Harry."

Ron got up and went over to where the girls had just sat down, and Harry could see this wasn't going to end well.

"What do you want now Weasley?" Abygail sighed.

"Oh nothing Ericson, just wanted to see if Hermione was ready to apologize," Ron said snidely.

Hermione looked both angry and sad over Ron's comment, but before she could say anything Abygail had whipped her wand out and blasted Ron head over heels into the Ravenclaw table. Ron got up quickly, pulled his wand and sent a Slug Eating curse at Abygail. She deflected it with a flick of her wrist and it streamed right into Pansy Parkinson as she walked into the Hall. Abygail sent a swirling ball of light at Ron, who dove out of the way and yelled '_Tarantallegra,' _and actually hit Abygail. Abygail's feet started to dance uncontrollably, but she quickly did a _Finite Incantetum _and was about to send another spell towards Ron when Professor McGonagall intervened by putting a shield up between them.

"Why I never! You both should be ashamed of yourselves, dueling in the middle of the Great Hall," she admonished. "I think that will be twenty points each and detention with me this Saturday."

"Yes, professor," Abygail said bowing her head, but secretly smiling inside.

"What?!" Ron exclaimed loudly.

"You heard me Mr. Weasley, you shall serve detention with me and not go to Hogsmeade and that is final," snapped Professor McGonagall and she walked away.

"What was that for Ericson?!" Ron yelled, but Abygail just smiled a half smile as Ginny walked in with Demelza and Luna.

"For insulting your friends, simple really," she said and walked off with a slight skip to her step.

"Uh, did I miss something?" Ginny whispered to Harry as she sat down next to him.

"Ron and Abygail just got detentions on Saturday for dueling in the hall," Harry whispered back. "Care to join me in Hogsmeade for a date?"

"Would absolutely love to, and now the prat won't be in the way," whispered Ginny happily as Ron rejoined them.

"Bloody Ericson," he grumbled and savagely attacked his oatmeal.

"Oh Ginny, I got a letter from Mr. Padfoot," said Harry happily.

"Glad to hear that Harry, can I read it?" Ginny asked.

"Sure," Harry said handing her the letter. Watching her reading the letter, Harry realized Abygail had done exactly what he wanted; she'd gotten Ron out of the picture for Saturday.

_'Now how could she possibly have known that I was thinking that?' _Harry wondered.

On Saturday morning, Harry walked into the village with Hermione and Neville. He and Ginny had agreed that Harry would meet her in Honeydukes and they would spend the day together while Hermione would run interference so no one knew what was going on. Harry had also brought his Invisibility Cloak just in case they needed to hide from a professor.

"Well I'm going to go get something for Ron from Honeydukes, I feel kind of bad he's stuck in detention," Harry said as they arrived in front of the store.

"That's fine Harry, where do you want to meet up?" Neville asked.

"Oh, he can catch up with us when he can," Hermione said with a secretive smile at Harry.

"But Hermione…" Neville started to say when Hermione whispered something in his ear and Neville's eyes lit up. "Okay, see you later then Harry."

The two of them walked off and as they did, Hermione turned back and smiled at her best friend, who nodded his thanks to her. Harry entered the shop and pretended to examine the Licorice Wands when someone tapped his shoulder.

"Fancy seeing you here," Ginny whispered in his ear.

"I have to say blonde looks better than brown on you," Harry said with a smile. "May I escort you around this fair village?"

"Of course Mr. Potter," Ginny said with a grin and they exited the shop and walked through the village.

"So where to first, my fair lady?" Harry asked with a bow.

Ginny giggled and replied, "Escort your lady to Zonko's Joke Shop, my handsome knight."

"As you wish," Harry said as he took Ginny by the hand and led her to Zonko's.

"Oh good, they got a new shipment of Stink Pellets," Ginny said happily as they walked into the shop.

"Running low?" Harry asked her and she merely replied with a sly smile.

Shaking his head at his girlfriend's antics, Harry followed her over to the shelf with the boxes of Stink Pellets and Dungbombs.

"Can we get some please Harry?" Pretty please?" Ginny begged with her best puppy-eyed look.

"Ah no, the puppy-eyes, noooo my weakness," Harry cried out in fake horror. "Please stop I'll do anything to make them stop."

"Annnnything?" Ginny said with an innocent smile as she leaned in close to Harry.

"Yes, yes just please stop," he said melodramatically as he leaned in, almost close enough to kiss her.

"Then buy me some of these pellets then," Ginny said sweetly as she leaned away grinning as Harry looked flabbergasted.

"Fine, fine," Harry sighed and grabbed a box off the shelf. "I want a reward for this Gin."

"Sure Harry, you'll get one at the end of our date I promise," she replied with a sly grin.

"Alright," Harry conceded with a sigh and he went to pay for the merchandise. As they started to leave the shop, Harry and Ginny noticed Fred and George had just entered with Lee Jordan. Hiding behind a shelf, Harry and Ginny watched them start to browse the store and saw their chance to slip out without the twins coming after them with pranks.

The day was a fine early spring day, bright and bit breezy, so Harry and Ginny decided to walk past the Three Broomsticks and up the slope towards the Shrieking Shack, the most haunted building in Britain.

"So I've heard even the Hogwarts ghosts avoid this place," Ginny said as they walked hand in hand up to the fence. "No one can get inside either, some sort of barrier, even Fred and George couldn't get in."

"That's weird that no one can get in, ghosts can't make barriers," Harry said pondering that mystery. "Just one more mystery for the year."

"Mysteries?" asked Ginny.

"So many mysteries Gin, and they all seem to swirl around Sirius Black," Harry sighed as he leaned on the fence.

"Don't forget about Professor Kemper, Abygail and Nicole, we don't really know much about them," Ginny said joining Harry at the fence.

"That's going to take years to solve I think," Harry said with a small chuckle. "But, Gin, everything that has happened this year, him breaking into Hogwarts, that note I found saying the rat lives, his entire story, it's been nagging at my mind the last few weeks."

"Harry…what if…this might be crazy, but what if we're right and Sirius Black didn't kill those people and escaped Azkaban to go after the real killer," Ginny asked.

"Ginny, that would be an excellent theory, but come on, how would the killer be at Hogwarts? Dumbledore would know," Harry said with an exasperated sigh.

"But it fits Harry, if Sirius is innocent wouldn't he consider the killer to be a rat," Ginny said pressing her point.

"I mean, granted that would be true, but again Dumbledore would have figured out if someone here at Hogwarts was secretly hiding a mass murder for twelve years," Harry said turning to face Ginny.

"Maybe the killer came here recently and Sirius Black saw him in some paper or something," Ginny said. "Fudge did give him his paper for the crossword remember?"

"So working off that theory, that paper, that specific paper, would have had to contain the picture of the killer coincidentally," Harry said raising an eyebrow. "We don't even know which paper that was…."

"What is it Harry?" Ginny asked as Harry had gone very quiet.

"Gin…maybe you are right…something just made sense to me…," Harry started to say when they heard voices coming closer and closer, voices that anyone would recognize.

"Quick hide!" Harry whispered.

Ginny grabbed the cloak from Harry's bag and threw it over herself just as Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle walked up the hill.

"Well, well, well boys look what we have here," Malfoy said with sneer. "Potty all on his lonesome, where your friends at Potty?"

Crabbe and Goyle both chuckled at Malfoy's lame joke, while Harry just sighed.

"Malfoy, why do you insist on this rivalry?" Harry asked quietly, surprising Malfoy and Ginny. "You've never come out of these encounters on the winning side, so why keep doing this?"

"Shut your mouth, Potter, I think it's high time you learned who your superiors are," sneered Malfoy.

"Fine, let's just get this over with, I've got things to do," Harry said nonchalantly, while also putting a hand in his pocket over his wand.

Malfoy went for his wand, but before spells could start flying, a huge glob of snow and mud smacked Malfoy full in the face.

"What the, what was that? Who's there?" Malfoy yelled out, trying to wipe his face off. Another huge glob impacted into the back of Goyle's head.

"It came from over there," Malfoy yelled and Crabbe and Goyle tried to find the source of the attacks. More snow and mud started flying and the three Slytherins ran away screaming about malevolent ghosts.

"Nice work Ginny," Harry said laughing as Ginny pulled the cloak off.

"Thanks Harry," Ginny said taking a bow. "Perhaps I'll give you your reward now sir knight."

"I'm sure you both would like that," a voice that caused both Gryffindors to freeze. "Frankly, I'm astounded on how Ginny got out of the castle, but I have my suspicions."

"Uh, hi Professor Lupin," Ginny said turning around slowly to face the Defense teacher. Lupin looked a touch disappointed in them, but something in his eyes made Ginny suspicious that he wasn't mad, but on the contrary, quite glad.

"I, uh we can explain professor," Harry started to say but Lupin held up his hand.

"No need Harry, Ginny if you would hand over the map please?" Lupin asked, holding out his hand.

Harry and Ginny shared a defeated look and Ginny reached into her pocket, grabbed the map, and handed it to Lupin.

"I'm amazed that none of you ever thought to turn this in, this map is another example of what happens when information is left lying around," scolded Lupin lightly. "Do you both realize this is a map straight to Harry that Sirius Black could have used?"

"No sir," they both mumbled out.

"Harry, Ginny," Lupin said gently, "I understand you want to be together on Hogsmeade days, but it could wait until next year when you both can come here freely. I know you both believe Sirius Black is innocent until proven guilty and I would like to believe he is as well, but reality doesn't fit that image."

"How can we be sure though professor? Only Black could say what really happened," Harry argued.

"That is true, but that's a conversation for another day, right now I'll be confiscating this map and no, you can't have it back," Lupin said quietly while thinking that Harry and Ginny were very close to figuring things out by the sounds of it. "I'll escort you both back to the castle and we will just pretend you were helping me hunt down a new specimen for class, shall we?"

Walking back up to the castle with Lupin, both Harry and Ginny were counting their lucky stars that it was Lupin who had caught them, and not Snape or Professor McGonagall.

"Uh professor, if you wouldn't mind not mentioning this, it would be appreciated," Ginny asked quietly as they reached the Entrance Hall. "I'd rather my brothers not know yet."

"A reasonable request that I shall honor, just toe the line from now on," said Lupin as he started to walk away.

"Professor, before you go, did Mr. Padfoot know Sirius Black?" Harry couldn't help himself from asking.

"Oh, they knew each other, they were very similar personality-wise," Lupin answered his back facing them. Secretly, Lupin was grinning from ear to ear as that question just confirmed that Harry and Ginny were trying to solve the mystery. "Well I shall see you both in class."

As they watched Lupin walk away, Ginny felt something click in her mind.

"Harry, if Mr. Padfoot is Padfoot on the map, I wonder if Lupin might be Moony," she said.

"What makes you think that?" Harry asked.

"Well it would make sense considering his name means wolf and wolves are always associated with the moon, and he knew it was a map," Ginny explained.

Harry was silent for a moment, then turned to her and smiled, "You might be on to something there Gin."

"Oh and Harry," Ginny said with a small smile, "I promise you'll get your reward at the Qudditch Final."

"Can't wait then," Harry answered with a slow grin forming on his face.

The days slowly started to drift through March and into April, and the build-up to the Quidditch Final was causing tensions to build between the houses. Harry was working hard to keep up with his work, but he was close to his breaking point with Divination. There was only so much one could take of having their death predicted aloud to the class and it was two weeks before the big match when things came to a head.

Harry sat at a table with Ron in Divination, with Hermione and Neville next to them. They had started crystal-gazing, which Harry was thankful for as Professor Trelawney would no longer be tearing up at his supposed life line in palmistry.

"So see anything yet?" Harry asked Ron as they stared into the foggy globe.

"Other than what looks like a lot of fog, nope," Ron replied.

"Open your minds dears," Professor Trelawney said gliding over to them. "Let us see if anything comes to us from the great beyond."

Hermione snorted at that and Professor Trelawney ignored her as she looked into Harry and Ron's crystal ball, and Harry could literally see what was coming a kilometer away.

"There is a dark shape here, it comes closer and closer, a growing doom pursues you my dear," she said to Harry. "Oh my, the Grim appears again."

"For goodness sakes' not this bloody Grim again," snapped Hermione, no longer able to contain herself.

"Dearie, since you first stepped into my classroom, I could see you would never be able to See, no you are far too much like your books, all logic and facts," Trelawney said.

"Fine! Fine then, I've had enough, I'm leaving," and true to her word, Hermione grabbed her bag and stormed down the ladder, leaving the classroom.

"A pity, but I did foresee this occurring," Trelawney sighed trying to sound regretful and mystical. "Ms. Granger will be missed, but it is not a true surprise to those who have the Sight."

"I think professor, I'm going to join Hermione in this," Harry said, surprising everyone. "I've had enough of you predicting my death time and again, so sorry professor, but you'll need to find a new target."

The class was stunned into silence as Harry stood up, grabbed his bag, and climbed down the ladder. Harry immediately went to find Professor McGonagall to inform her he would be dropping Divination and would find a new elective.

"Professor, I was wondering if I might have a word?" Harry asked as he reached McGonagall's classroom.

"Certainly, Mr. Potter, but shouldn't you be in Divination?" she asked.

"I've decided to drop it professor, I'll take another elective next year, something where I'm not constantly a target for vague death hints," Harry replied.

"If that is what you want Mr. Potter. I just had a very similar conversation with Ms. Granger. What elective were you thinking about replacing it with?" she asked, pulling out a new schedule.

"I was thinking Ancient Runes, it's more useful I feel," Harry said with a smile at McGonagall's half smile. "I'd be perfectly willing to take the third year class next year as a fourth year."

"That should work for the headmaster and myself; I would recommend you review some books over the summer to have some knowledge of runes," McGonagall said.

"Thanks, professor," Harry said as he turned to leave.

"Oh and Potter, good luck in the Quidditch Final, bring home that Cup," McGonagall said, again with that half smile.

"I'll see what I can do," Harry said and left.

The final lead up to the big match was nothing like Harry had seen before. Gryffindors and Slytherins were constantly ended up in the Hospital Wing with strange injuries or jinxes on them. Harry was having a particularly hard time, as it seemed the Slytherins had made it a personal mission to knock him out of playing. Thankfully, Daphne had been able to slip him information on major attempts secretly so he could avoid them, so he mainly had to deal with people trying trip him. It was two days before the match when the Slytherins were successful in getting at one of the team members. Angelina Johnson had been ambushed in the library and would be stuck in the Hospital Wing for the next two days while she was de-antlered, so Wood had put Ginny in the starting line-up.

All usual pursuits were abandoned in the Gryffindor common room the night before the match. Even Hermione had put down her books.

"I can't concentrate, it's just too distracting even for me," she said.

"I always love this part," Nicole said happily as she folded paper into origami. "The nerves, the anxiousness, the gut-wrenching feeling of anticipation before a big event."

"It is always a lovely motivator, but I can think of even better ones," her sister said, drawing an intricate rune circle.

"What's that?" Hermione asked her as she noticed the circle.

"Oh, just something I've been working on designing, it's a focusing circle with a containment barrier overlaid into it," Abygail answered. "Professor Kemper gave me the assignment as a personal challenge."

"I see," Hermione said, looking over the rest of the common room.

Fred and George were dealing with the pressure by being extremely loud with their antics. Oliver Wood was hunched over a model Quidditch pitch, poking miniature figures around with his wand. Harry and Ginny were laughing and telling jokes by the fire. Alicia and Katie had just gotten back from visiting Angelina, who had wished the team good luck. The clock chimed ten o'clock when Wood finally stood up and stretched.

"Team! Bed!" he yelled as he finished stretching.

As all the team members went to their respective dorms, Nicole helped Hermione out of her cage of books and Hermione felt a rush of something or other when she touched Nicole's hand, some sort of energy she thought, but she shrugged it off and headed upstairs.

"And now she's been awakened, so that's three of five, well the five that we know" whispered Nicole to her sister.

"And I just finished the ritual circle, so we can free Harry then finally awaken him once we get the mist," Abygail said with a smile. "It's almost game time."

Harry and the rest of the Gryffindor team entered the Great Hall the next day to enormous applause. Harry couldn't help grinning back as he saw that Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were also applauding with the Gryffindors. The Slytherins made themselves heard by booing loudly as they passed, Malfoy in particular was sneering and booing towards Harry.

Wood spent the whole of breakfast urging the team to eat, while not touching a morsel of food himself, the nerves were clear in all of them. Then he hurried them off to the field before anyone else had finished eating, so the team could see what conditions would be. As they left the Great Hall, everyone applauded again.

"Good luck Harry," Cho called out with a radiant smile. Harry blushed in embarrassment while Ginny growled a bit and shot Cho a withering look.

"Okay, no wind to speak of, sun is a tad bright, could cause problems for your vision, so watch for that," Wood was mumbling to the team was they walked the perimeter fence of the pitch.

"Ground is nice and hard, good, that should give us a fast kickoff," he continued to mumble. The doors to the castle finally opened and the rest of the school started to spill onto the lawn, the sound coming from the large crowd of students carrying all the way to team.

"Locker rooms," Wood said tersely with barely moving lips.

None of them spoke as they changed into their scarlet robes. Harry wondered if everyone was feeling the same way he did: like he had eaten something that was now writhing in his stomach. In what seemed like no time at all, Wood gathered the team around for one last pep talk.

"Whatever happens out there, know that I'm proud of you all, I wouldn't have any other people backing me up in my final Hogwarts Quidditch game," Wood said, getting a bit choked up. "That said, do your best and let's take that Cup."

Fred and George stuck their hands into the middle of their group and the rest of the team joined them.

Fred started to whisper, "Go, go Gryffindor, go, go Gryffindor."

George joined him so it started to get louder, "Go, Go Gryffindor, Go, Go Gryffindor."

Katie, Alicia, Demelza, Ginny and Faye joined in so the chant was even louder, "Go, Go Gryffindor, Go, Go, Gryffindor!"

Harry and Ron joined in so they were near shouting it now, "GO, GO, GRYFFINDOR, GO, GO GRYFFINDOR!"

Wood finally joined in and they were full blown shouting it now as they left the locker rooms, "GO, GO, GRYFFINDOR, GO, GO, GRYFFINDOR!"

Emerging out onto the field, the Gryffindor team was hit with a wall of noise. Three-quarters of the students were wearing scarlet rosettes, red and gold flags with Gryffindor lion waved high in the air, banners with slogans like "LIONS FOR THE CUP!" hanging around the edges of the stands. Behind the Slytherin goal posts, however, two hundred people were wearing green; the silver serpent of Slytherin glittered on their flags, and Professor Snape sat right in front, wearing green like every one of his house, and a very grim smile.

"WELCOME TO THE FINALS OF THE QUIDDITCH CUP, TODAY'S MATCH IS A WINNER TAKE ALL BRAWL BETWEEN TWO TEAMS WITH LITTLE LOVE LOST BETWEEN THEM, GRYFFINDOR VS. SLYTHERIN," Lee Jordan had to scream out over the noise.

"And here are the Gryffindors!" yelled Lee Jordan to the general roar of the crowd. "Potter, Bell, Spinnet, Weasley, Weasley, Weasley, and Wood as the starting line-up. Widely acknowledged as the best team Hogwarts has seen in a good few years, ever since the team led by Charlie Weasley took the Cup."

"And here come the Slytherin team, Malfoy, Warrington, Flint, Montague, Derrick, Bole and Bletchley, and it looks like Captain Marcus Flint is going for size rather than skill in his line-up."

Lee's comment was met by a large up swell of boos from the Slytherin crowd. Harry, however, thought Lee had a point, as Malfoy was clearly the smallest member of the Slytherin team.

"Now Madam Hooch shall have the captains shake hands and the game will begin on her mark," Lee yelled as Madam Hooch walked up the center of the pitch.

"Captains, shake hands!" she barked.

Flint and Wood approached each other and grasped each other's hand extremely tightly; it looked as though each was trying to break the other's fingers.

"Mount your brooms, and on my whistle," Madam Hooch said.

"Three." Harry gripped his Firebolt tightly.

"Two." Ginny tuned everything out except the countdown.

"One." To the players, everything seemed to slow down as Madam Hooch brought her whistle up to her lips.

The sound of her whistle was lost in the roar of the crowd as all fourteen players rose as into the air. Harry felt his hair fly back against his neck, his nerves left on the pitch in the face of the thrill of the game. Hovering high above the action, he scanned around for the Snitch, marking Malfoy doing the exact same thing.

"And it's Gryffindor in possession, Spinnet with the Quaffle, heading for the Slytherin goal posts, looking good Alicia! Argh no, Quaffle intercept by Warrington who passes to…INTERCEPTED BY WEASLEY OUT OF NOWHERE and she's streaking down the pitch, dodges a Bludger from Bole, swerves around Montague, SHE SCORES! TEN-ZERO GRYFFINDOR!" Lee was yelling into his megaphone as the crowd roared in excitement.

Ginny was punching her fist in the air when Flint came out of nowhere and rammed her, and she nearly thrown from her broom.

"Sorry, Weasel didn't see you there," he sneered at her.

A second later a Bludger came flying from Fred and smashed into Flint's nose, causing it to bleed profusely.

"And it's a penalty awarded to Gryffindor for that deliberate attempt at Blatching and it's Spinnet to take it, she surges forward, come on Alicia, YES SHE'S PAST BLETCHLEY AND ITS TWENTY-ZERO GRYFFINDOR!"

Relieved to see Ginny was unharmed, and looked to be hopping mad at getting hit, Harry zoomed away, gazing around for the Snitch. With how close the standings were, Harry had to make sure he caught the Snitch before Malfoy.

"Slytherin in possession, Montague passes to Flint, who jukes a Bludger from George Weasley, passes forward to Flint, who shoots and NICE SAVE BY WOOD, Gryffindor in possession, no Slytherin, no Gryffindor again and it's Katie Bell, she passes to Weasley, who, WHOA, nice switch pass to Spinnet, she's zooming down the field and THAT WAS DELIBERATE YOU FILTHY CHEATER!"

Montague had swerved in front of Alicia and had grabbed her head instead of the Quaffle. She managed to stay on her broom and cartwheeled, but had to drop the Quaffle…right into Katie's open hands.

"BELL OUT OF NOWHERE SHOOTS AND SCORES THIRTY-ZERO GRYFFINDOR and looks like penalty being awarded for the underhanded tactic by Slytherin Chaser Montague. Weasley to take it, she flies forward, and SHE SCORES FOURTY-ZERO GRYFFINDOR, serves you right you filthy pieces of cheating…"

"JORDAN, if you can't commentate in an unbiased way…"

"Sorry professor, telling it how it is."

Harry felt a huge jolt of excitement, part for Ginny and her goal and part because he had just seen the Snitch zooming around at the base of one of the Slytherin goal posts.

Racing off towards, with Malfoy right behind, Harry tried to end the game now. He felt a whoosh of air pass by his left ear as a Bludger from Bole sailed past and another pass his right ear from Derrick.

He had a fleeting glimpse of both Slytherin Beaters flying right at him, clubs raised. Harry saw his chance and, turning his broom downwards at the last second, shot straight down, hearing as he did so the satisfying crunch as they collided.

"HA HA, excellent move by Gryffindor Seeker Harry Potter, you'll have to wake up much faster than that to catch a Firebolt boys and POTTER IS AFTER THE SNITCH MALFOY CLOSE BEHIND AND I'VE NEVER SEEN A MORE UNDERHANDED EXAMPLE OF BLAGGING! YOU CHEATING SCUM! YOU FILTHY, CHEATING B…"

Everyone expected Professor McGonagall to admonish Lee, but she was equally irate, her face red and she was screaming at Malfoy as he slid back onto his Nimbus 2001.

"For those of you who don't read Quidditch Through the Ages," Jordan snarled, "that was textbook blagging, or jumping onto another persons FIREBOLT FOR CRYING"His explanation died under the roar of disapproval from the crowd.

Katie took the penalty but she was so angry she missed completely. With Malfoy's tactic having worked, the Slytherin team took advantage of the lack of concentration to tie the game up quickly to forty-forty.

"Gryffindor back in possession and it's Weasley flying down the pitch, she dodges a Bludger, no two, FLIPS OVER FLINT AND LANDS BACK ON HER BROOM QUAFFLE STILL IN HAND -INCREDIBLE- dodges Bletchley and SCORES FIFTY-FORTY GRYFFINDOR. Weasley's flying with a mission right now apparently."

Lee's observation wasn't exaggeration either as Ginny made the next two goals of the game as well, pushing Gryffindor to a seventy-forty lead over Slytherin. The Slytherin Beaters were trying everything they could do to stop her but she would just dodge their Bludgers. Ginny had fallen into a single purpose, score and help her teammates score, and that had come with a hyperawareness of her surroundings.

"Weasley has recovered the Gryffindor Chasers concentration and by Jove are they on roll," Lee said into the megaphone. "Slytherin in possession and POTTER HAS SEEN SOMETHING, YES IT'S THE SNITCH, MALFOY IS HOT ON HIS HEELS, THEY'RE NECK AND NECK."

Harry glanced over at his rival as they dove for the tiny pinprick of gold, both had an arm extended and were knocking into each other. _'Almost there,' _Harry thought as he threw caution to the wind, took his other hand off his broom, knocked Malfoy's arm away just as he was about to grasp the small gold ball and Harry felt his fist close around it.

"YES!"

Harry pulled out of his dive, his fist raised high in the air as the crowd took a second to process what just happened. The stadium exploded when they realized the match was over now. Harry was circling the crowd, arm still raised when Wood sped towards him, half blinded by tears, and grasped Harry by the neck in a bear hug. Harry felt two more thumps as Fred and George joined them, followed by Katie's, Ginny's, and Alicia's voices screaming "WE WON THE CUP!" Tangled together, the Gryffindor team sank slowly to the ground, yelling hoarsely.

Wave upon wave of crimson clad supporters swarmed over the barriers onto the field led by Faye, Demelza and Ron who joined into the massive hug. Hands rained down onto backs, faces swirled together as he and the team were caught up in the rush. They were hoisted onto the shoulders of the crowd and carried over to the stage where Dumbledore stood waiting, trophy in hand.

Harry saw Hagrid bawling his eyes out, yelling "That's me boy, yeh beat 'em Harry, yeh beat 'em all." Percy was jumping up and down, all dignity forgotten as he was swept into the euphoria of victory. Professor McGonagall was sobbing even harder than Wood, wiping her tears with the corner of an enormous Gryffindor flag. Neville, Abygail, Nicole, Luna and Hermione screamed and cheered as words failed Harry. Landing on the platform, the team approached a smiling Dumbledore. He handed the Quidditch Cup to a sobbing Oliver Wood, who promptly passed the Cup to Harry.

Harry lifted the Cup high in the air, feeling like he could make the best Patronus ever right now, when Ginny, caught up in the moment and deciding hiding their relationship was stupid and Harry deserved his reward and some happiness, rushed forward and slammed her lips against Harry's in a searing kiss. Silence reigned for a second before more cheers engulfed them as Harry smiled stupidly back at his girlfriend, but he did notice Ron's look of rage as he wrapped his arms around Ginny and returned the kiss with equal intensity, thinking that it really did help to solve a problem on a grandiose stage.


End file.
